LESSON XLIII.
HOW THEY BEHAVE.
ABOVE THE WAVE.
ABOVE THE WAVE.
Birds, beasts, and insects live where we can easily watch them. Wherever we go, they are our near neighbors. We can easily find out many facts about their way of living. For this reason, manypeople, from the earliest times, have observed these creatures, and have written down what they learned about them.
But of fish, people have been able to see and know much less. It has taken much longer to learn about creatures that hide in the waters, and are, for the most part, out of our sight. Seeing fish so much less often, people took less interest in them.
Since great aquariums were built with glass tanks, in which fish can live at ease and behave in a natural way, we have learned more of their habits.
These tanks are filled with salt or fresh water, as the fish may require. The floor of the tank is covered with sand, rock, shells. Then crabs and small “shell-fish” of many kinds, and larvæ and worms are put in, such as the fish would find in their native homes.
Caves and grottos, lined with moss and weeds, are built; and the tank looks like a true part of a river, pond, or sea. Then the water is kept at the right warmth, and fresh air is driven in as I have told you. The light is made just right for the fish in the tank, and proper kinds of fish are put together.
When you go and stand outside of one of these greattanks, this water world is before you from top to bottom. Now I shall tell you some of the things which I learned about how fish behave at home.
By such a tank I first learned that nothing can be more easy and full of grace and majesty than the motion of a fish in the water.
I watched a great fish swimming. I could not see the motion of a muscle, or the least quiver of fin or tail. His great round eyes shone; his splendid red fins were still; his spotted back glistened through the waves; his broad sides gleamed in silver mail.
He never seemed to stir from his majestic calm. He stole across the line of vision, but without visible effort. He crossed the path of other fish. He sailed above them or below them; but he seemed to feel himself all alone, and to notice nothing.
A fisher who had watched pike told me that, when he watched one lying in a pool, he was sure that the fish saw him. It did not seem to make any motion. But the fish changed its place. Soon it was gone.
In the next tank to the one I spoke of, were flounders. They swam with a wave-like motion of the whole body. They did not swim straight forward. They went up and down in curves. Their motion wasmuch like the flight of short-winged, heavy birds. In fact, a sole which had its eyes and mouth set upon a kind of skull-shaped head, on the upper side of the flat body, looked much like a dim, first idea of a bird.
The fish in the tank were not fish that fed on each other, and they never seemed to notice each other at all.
I saw some kinds of fish asleep. A dog-fish lay asleep on the sand, with his nose in a corner, for half a day. He looked as if he were dead. Three hermit crabs[32]were crawling about over him. He never stirred. He did not seem to notice their sharp claws and their jostling shells.
This sleeping of the dog-fish reminded me of what I had seen in pools where fish lie basking in the sunshine. Some fish are very fond of lying in a sunny spot. Others will get into a shadow, and lie there with great content.
I found in my study of fish life in tanks, that fish are given to fighting. Some of them fight with their nearest relatives. In a small tank I saw two fish that fought and bit each other so cruelly that they had to be parted.
There had been several fish in this tank, and all buttwo had been killed in their battles. Then a glass partition had been put in the middle of the tank, and one fish lived on each side. They swam up to this clear wall, laid their noses against it, and glared at each other.
Another fact I remarked in fish is the clearness and keenness of their vision, and the quick way in which they will dart at food. When they see something that they wish to eat dropping down through the water, they spring at it with open mouths, and seem never to miss their mark.
When they need more air than they can get from the water, they swim to the surface and take a gulp of air and water. When they are sick, they do not swim, but lie on their sides, as if they feel too weak to make any effort. When they are dead, the bodies turn over and float on their backs.
It is said that fish can reproduce parts that they have lost, as crabs and star-fish can. At least, they can easily live when an eye or part of their mouth or a fin is gone. They seem to suffer little from such a loss. A fish that has a wound, or has just lost an eye, will swim about and eat as if it felt no pain.
Some fishes that live on the bottom have a queer way of lying close on the sand, with their mouthswide open. They pant as if in great pain. But they are not in pain, they are sifting their food out of the water.
Look into their throats, and you will see a network, like fine bones. That is their sieve to catch small food.
Some fish are timid, and hide at the least sound. Others are fearless, and lie in plain view, or boldly follow their prey. A fish darting after his food is a fine sight. His jaws are open; his spines stand in a ridge on his back; his eyes gleam. His whole body seems alert and full of fire.
You should watch fish for yourselves. You have seen gold and silver fish in globes. Other fish are often kept in ponds and fountains as pets. They become very tame. Sometimes they learn to know those who feed them, and will come when called.
FOOTNOTES:[32]See Nature Reader, No. 1, Lesson 8.
[32]See Nature Reader, No. 1, Lesson 8.
[32]See Nature Reader, No. 1, Lesson 8.