The Pipe-fishes belonging to this family possess a very strange organic peculiarity. Their bodies are long, slender, and slightly tapering, covered with plates set lengthwise; and the skin in swelling forms a pouch near the tail into which the eggs glide to be hatched, and which is afterwards a shelter for the young.
The Trumpet Pipe-fish has a small head and a long cylinder-shaped nose, slightly raised at the end, and terminating in a very small mouth without teeth. It is generally found in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
There is still another Pipe-fish—the Fistularia—not often classed with this family, but found among the spiny-finned Fishes, with an extremely long nose in front of the head; this forms a long tube, in fact, at the end of which is the mouth. This species is common at the Antilles. It reaches a length of about three feet. It feeds upon crustaceans and small Fishes, which it drags from the interstices of the rocks and stones by means of its long pipe.
THE SEA-HORSE.
The queer little Sea-horses which are often found dried among a collection of sea-shells and ocean relics, are only a few inches in length. Their head bears some resemblance to that of a Horse, while the tail resembles the rings of a Caterpillar, and the body is covered with triangular scales. They keep in a vertical position when they swim, and the tail seems on the alert, to seize whatever it meets in the water, clasping the stems of rushes, etc. Once fixed by the tail, the queer little animal seems to watch all the surrounding objects, and darts quickly on any prey presenting itself. They live on Worms and Fish eggs and substances found at the bottom of the sea.
THE FAMILY OF SOFT-FINNED FISHES.
The principal character of the Fishes of this large family (which forms the third group of bony Fishes) is that the rays of the fins are soft, with very few exceptions. They inhabit both the sea and fresh water, and this group is found to include Fishes of the most importance as human food, such as the Herring, the Cod, Salmon, Carp, Pike, and many others.
This family is usually divided into three groups: The Eels—which have already been described with the Lampreys—the various flat Fishes, like the Flounders, Turbot, Plaice, Sole, Halibut, etc., and third, the Fishes already mentioned as the favorites for food, with curious specimens of Flying-fish, etc.
SOME STRANGE SPECIMENS.
In the second division of this family we find several curious specimens before coming to the better known flat Fish which are used for food. The first of these is the Sea-snail, which has a long mucuous body without scales and front fins forming suckers, whereby it can attach itself to the rocks. A curious Lump-fish is also classified here which is very different from the Lump-fish of the Ray family. It has little to distinguish it, except that this also has a strong sucker formed by the disc of the ventral fins. And a third queer specimen is the Echineis—an inhabitant of the Mediterranean, which has a flat disk covering its head, which is formed of a number of movable plates of cartilage. Aided by this queer organ it attaches itself firmly to rocks, and even to ships and larger Fishes which it meets with in its wanderings. Its adhesion to these objects is so strong that the strength of a man often fails to separate them. It sometimes attaches itself to a Shark by means of this strange disk, and makes long voyages on this monstrous locomotive Fish, without fatigue or danger; for its enemies are kept a distance by fear of the fierce monster which carries it.