The Climbing Perch, (Anabas scandens,) a native of the fresh waters of India, possesses a very singular apparatus for enabling it to quit the water, and pass a considerable time on dry ground. This consists of a curiously folded portion of thin bone on each side of the head near the gills, in the cavities of which a good deal of water is contained; this keeps the gills in a moist state while the fish is out of the water, and thus enables it to breathe in the air. This fish is said to employ its singular power of quitting the water for the purpose of climbing trees, although what it expects to gain by so doing is quite unknown. Its power of climbing has been denied by some naturalists, but Daldorf says that he once caught one which had clambered to a height of six feet on the stem of a palm, and was in the act of going still higher.
THE POPE, OR RUFFE. (Acerina cernua.)
The Pope is very like a small perch, but with a curiously formed single dorsal fin: the colour of the back is a dusky olive green; the sides light brownish green and copper colour; and small brown spots are spread over the dorsal fin, the back, and tail. The pectoral, ventral, and anal fins are pale brown. This fish rarely exceeds six inches in length; but it is nearly as good as a perch of the same size, which it resembles, both in its haunts and habits; it spawns in April, and feeds on small fry, worms, or aquatic insects.
Cuvier assigns the credit of the first discovery of this fish to an Englishman of the name of Caius, who found it in the river Yare, near Norwich, and called it Aspredo, a translation of our name Ruffe, (rough,) which is well applied to it, on account of the harsh feel of its denticulated scales.