Part 33

"On putting the leeches into the water, the stickleback darted round the tumbler with lively motions till it found a leech detached, and in a proper situation for being seized. When the leech was very small, say about half an inch in length, it was often swallowed at once before it reached the bottom of the vessel, but when a larger one, about an inch, or an inch and a half in length in its expanded state, was put in, and had fastened itself by its mouth to the glass, the efforts of the stickleback to seize and tear it from its hold, were incessant, and never failed to succeed. It darted at the loose extremity, or, when both ends were fastened, at the curve in its middle, seized it in its mouth, rose to near the surface, and after a hearty shake (such as a dog would give a rat) let it drop. The leech, who evidently wished to avoid its enemy upon its release, again attached itself by its mouth to the glass; but again and again the attack was repeated, till the poor leech became exhausted, and ceased to attempt holding itself by its disc. The stickleback then seized it by the head in a proper position for swallowing, and after a few gulps the leech disappeared. The flattened leech being of an oval form, and having a hard skin, was not attacked, unless when very young, and small; and leeches of the other species when pretty well grown, or larger than himself when expanded, were killed in the manner above mentioned, but not swallowed. In one of his attempts to seize a leech, the stickleback having got it by the tail, the animal curled back and fixed its disc upon his snout. The efforts of the stickleback to rid himself of this encumbrance were amusing. He let go his hold of the leech, which then hung over his mouth, and darting at the bottom and sides of the glass with all his strength, endeavoured to rub off this tantalizing morsel. This lasted for nearly a minute, when at last he got rid of the leech by rubbing his back upon the bottom of the vessel. The leech, perfectly aware of the company he was in, no sooner loosed his hold, than he attempted to wriggle away from his devourer; but before he had reached mid-way up the tumbler, the stickleback had turned and finished the contest by swallowing him up."

The Mackerel.

The Mackerel is one of the most useful as well as one of the most beautiful of familiar fishes. It measures from twelve to twenty inches and weighs from one and a half to two or three pounds. It is elegant of form and brilliant of colour, as well as agreeable as an article of food. Mackerel visit the coast of England in vast shoals at certain seasons, but retire to deep seas for the winter. They are exceedingly voracious, and prey upon the herrings; Captain Brown tells a story of a number of mackerel fastening on to a sailor who had plunged into their midst for a bath. The man was rescued by his comrades, but he died soon after from loss of blood.

The Sword-fish.

The Sword-fish is a formidable member of this order. It is found in the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic, and sometimes visits the English coast. It has been known to measure ten feet or more without the sword, with which it attains even to a length of fifteen feet. It attacks other large fish and is a great enemy to the whale, which it charges with great force and destructive effect. It is said sometimes to mistake the hull of a ship for the body of a whale and to charge it accordingly, with the result that it leaves its sword fixed in the ship's timbers as the bee leaves its sting in human flesh. The sword of this fish is formed by the elongation of its upper jaw, and some idea of the force with which it can be used may be gained from the fact that one found in the hull of a ship at Liverpool and described by Scoresby had penetrated a sheet of copper, an oak plank two and a half inches in thickness, a solid oak timber of seven and a half inches, and another plank also of two inches. "The position of the bone was at the distance of four feet horizontally from the stern, and two feet below the surface of the water when the vessel was afloat. Hence, it appeared, that when the ship had been in rapid progress through the water, she had been met with and struck by a sword-fish advancing in an opposite direction, by the shock of which, or by the action of the water forced past the body of the animal by the vessel's progress, the snout had been broken off and detached. The blow, though it must have been singularly forcible, was not observed by any person in the ship. Had the bone been withdrawn, the vessel would probably have foundered." Mr. Wood says in one instance, a Sword-fish attacking a whaling-ship, drove its weapon "through the copper sheathing, an inch board sheathing, a three-inch plank of hard wood, the solid white oak timber of the ship twelve inches thick, through another two-and-a-half inch hard oak ceiling plank, and lastly, perforated the head of an oil-cask, where it still remained immovably fixed, so that not a single drop of oil escaped."

The Cod.

The third order of Dr. Günther's classification includes many of the more familiar fishes. Here we find the Cod, the Haddock, the Plaice, the Flounder, the Halibut, the Turbot, the Brill, and the Sole. Of these we will take the Cod as representative. The Cod is one of the most prolific of fish. Enormous quantities are caught and consumed every year, and yet the number seems to increase rather than decrease. This is accounted for by the fact, that the spawn of one fish will sometimes contain nine millions of eggs. The Cod frequents the deep seas of the temperate and colder climes, not being found in any quantities north of Iceland, or South of Gibraltar. They are found chiefly in the Northern Atlantic where extensive fisheries are carried on, but they are also caught in the Firth of Forth at the mouth of which some of the best are taken. The Cod grows very rapidly and often to a great size. One is said to have been caught off Scarborough many years ago which weighed seventy-eight pounds and measured five feet eight inches in length. They feed on herrings, sprats, mollusca, worms, and small shell-fish, are very voracious, and have excellent digestions. Captain Brown killed one at Killough, Co. Down, Ireland in which he found upwards of fifty small crabs, and other testaceous and crustaceous animals. The Cod fisheries find employment for a large number of people and are a great source of profit. The flesh is highly valued as an article of diet, and the liver for the properties of the oil which it produces, while other parts are used for various purposes.

The Salmon.

In the Fourth order of Dr. Günther's classification we find the Salmon, the Trout, the Pike, the Flying Fish, the Carp, the Roach, the Chub, the Herring, the Sardine, the Anchovy, the Gymnotus and the Eel, besides other fish. Of these the Salmon takes easy precedence. Izaak Walton called it "the King of fresh water fish," and many have accorded it the first place among its kind for the delicacy of its flavour. It is of migratory habits, leaving the sea in the autumn and ascending rivers for the purpose of depositing its spawn, and returning to the sea in the spring. In seeking suitable places for its purpose the salmon brooks no obstacle, leaping with great vigour the rapids and falls that impede its course even though they may sometimes exceed eight or ten feet in height. Curving the body until it forms a circular spring, it strikes the water with great force throwing itself forward and thus lifting itself over rocks and weirs. In the shallow gravelly pools which they find towards the source of rivers, Salmon form hollows in which they spawn, covering up their eggs with the loose sand they excavate in the process. The eggs deposited in the later months of the autumn are hatched in the earlier months of Spring and by the end of May the whole of the young fish have followed their parents to the sea.

The Pike.

The Pike,--fierce, strong, and voracious,--holds his own in the rivers of both the old and the new Worlds. It has been known to attack a man when its retreat has been cut off; to bite the legs of bathers, and to snap at the fingers of persons cooling their hands in the water; and when pressed with hunger, to fight an otter for the possession of a carp, which the latter had caught. Its strength and endurance have often been demonstrated in the destruction of strong tackle and in its power to survive, without apparent inconvenience, with hooks and wires mingling with its anatomy. Captain Brown gives an instance of a pike being caught, which had a strong piece of twisted wire projecting from its side. It was in excellent condition, and on being opened, discovered in its stomach a double eel hook, much corroded, and attached to the protruding wire. Another pike when caught, in the river Ouse, was found in possession of a watch with a black ribbon and seals attached; property which it was afterwards discovered had belonged to a gentleman's servant who had been drowned. The pike has often been caught with portions of tackle broken from the line in former engagements hanging from the mouth. Its rapacity is extraordinary. Eight-hundred gudgeon are said to have been consumed in three weeks by eight pike of not more than five pounds weight each. "The appetite of one of my pike," says Mr. Jesse, "was almost insatiable. One morning I threw to him one after the other, five roach, each about four inches in length. He swallowed four of them, and kept the fifth in his mouth for about a quarter of an hour, when it also disappeared." The pike attains to large proportions and to a great age. When less than two pounds weight, it is called a jack, but it has been known to attain to sixty or seventy pounds weight, and if all records be true, to more than a hundred years of age. Gesner mentions a pike caught in standing water at Heilbroon, in Suabia in 1497 which had a ring round its head with an inscription in Greek which ran somewhat as follows; I am the first fish that was launched into this pond, and was thrown in by Frederick the Second, emperor of the Romans, on the fifth of October, 1230." If this be true, the pike was two hundred and fifty-seven years old at the time of its capture, when it is said to have weighed three hundred and fifty pounds.

The Herring.

Probably no living thing of its size is equal to the herring in its value to man. It visits the northern coasts of England and Scotland in vast shoals, of several miles in extent, in the autumn of the year, heralded by seagulls and followed by dog-fish, both of whom take toll as it proceeds. The annual produce of these little fish is beyond all calculation. The Scotch fisheries are credited with the capture of over four hundred millions a year, while those of Norway can scarcely be much less successful. The Swedish fisheries are said to capture nearly double that number, to which must be added those taken by the English, Irish, Dutch, French, and German fisheries before the grand total can be reached. The enormous number of hands employed in these various fisheries, to say nothing of the capital invested in them, marks them out as one of the most important of European enterprises.

The Flying Fish.

The Flying fish is about the size of a herring, and is furnished with strong pectoral fins, almost the length of its body, by which it is able to spring out of the water and sustain itself for a time in the air. It has apparently no power of guiding itself, or of varying its altitude while in the lighter element, both the height and the course of its flight being determined by the direction and the force of its spring. Its ordinary flight is about three feet above the surface of the water, and of no very great distance or duration, but it has been known to fly as high as fourteen or fifteen feet, and even higher, and a distance of over two hundred yards. Flying fish often fall upon the decks of ships, where they are welcomed as affording a pleasant variety to the sailors' menu. They frequent warmer latitudes, but are sometimes seen off the English coast. They leave the sea to escape the larger fish which prey upon them, only too often to fall a prey to the fowls of the air.

The Eel.

The Eel from its general resemblance to the snake is not usually a favourite when alive, however popular it may be with the palate, when served up with suitable accessories at table. It is, however, full of interest as a study, and shows many remarkable characteristics and traits. It migrates from the river to the sea in the autumn to produce its young, thus reversing the order of procedure of the salmon. Mr. Jesse, writing of these migrations as observed by him in the Thames many years ago, says, "An annual migration of young eels takes place in the river Thames in the month of May, and they have generally made their appearance at Kingston, in their way upwards, about the second week in that month. These young eels are about two inches in length, and they make their approach in one regular and undeviating column of about five inches in breadth, and as thick together as it is possible for them to be. As the procession generally lasts two or three days, and as they appear to move at the rate of nearly two miles and a half an hour, some idea may be formed of their enormous number. Sir Humphrey Davy says, in his "Salmonia,"--"There are two migrations of eels, one _from_ and the other _to_ the sea; the first in spring and summer, and the second in autumn, or early in winter. The first of very small eels, which are sometimes not more than two and a half inches long; the second of large eels, which sometimes are three or four feet long, and weigh from fifteen to twenty pounds. There is great reason to believe, that all eels found in fresh water are the results of the first migration; they appear in millions in April and May, and sometimes continue to rise as late as July, and the beginning of August. They feed, grow, and fatten in fresh water. In small rivers, they are seldom very large; but, in large deep lakes, they become as thick as a man's arm, or even leg; and all those of a considerable size attempt to return to the sea in October or November, probably when they experience the cold of the first autumnal rains." Mr. St. John thus describes some young Eels which he saw ascending the river Findhorn "When they came to a fall, which they could not possibly ascend, they wriggled out of the water, and gliding along the rock, close to the edge, where the stone was constantly wet from the splashing and spray of the fall, they made their way up till they got above the difficulty, and then again slipping into the water, continued their course." The eel is voracious, and will leave the water in search of frogs, and other food. It will attack, and appropriate, young ducks, and one is said to have been caught near Bootle with two rats in its stomach. The Conger Eel grows to a great size and attains great weight. It is said sometimes to measure eight or even ten feet, and to weigh a hundred pounds or even more. It is plentiful in the English Channel, and on the coast of Cornwall.

The Gymnotus.

The Gymnotus is the famous electric eel, and like the Torpedo of the English Channel and the Mediterranean, has the power of communicating a violent electric shock. It belongs to the Amazon and other South American rivers and their tributaries, and is well known to American Indians. Humbolt describes the shock produced by this creature, as exceeding in strength that of a large Leyden jar. Having imprudently placed his foot on one just taken from the water he received such a shock that, he says, "I was affected the rest of the day with violent pains in the knees, and in almost every joint."

Catching the Gymnotus.

The following vivid description of a Gymnotus hunt is given by Humbolt: "We at first wished to make our experiments in the house we inhabited at Calabozo; but the dread of the electrical shocks of the gymnoti is so exaggerated among the vulgar, that during three days we could not obtain one, thought they are easily caught, and though we had promised the Indians two piastres for every strong and vigorous fish.

"Impatient of waiting, and having obtained very uncertain results from an electrical eel that had been brought to us alive, but much enfeebled, we repaired to the Cano de Bera, to make our experiments in the open air, on the borders of the water itself. We set off on the 19th of March for the village of Rastro de Abaxo, thence we were conducted to a stream, which, in the time of drought, forms a basin of muddy water, surrounded by fine trees. To catch the gymnoti with nets is very difficult, on account of the extreme agility of the fish, which bury themselves in the mud like serpents. We would not employ the _barbasco_, that is to say, the roots of Piscidea erithryna and Jacquinia armillaris, which, when thrown into the pool, intoxicate or benumb these animals. These means would have enfeebled the gymnoti; the Indians therefore told us, that they would 'fish with horses.' We found it difficult to form an idea of this extraordinary manner of fishing; but we soon saw our guides return from the Savannah, which they had been scouring for wild horses and mules. They brought about thirty with them, which they forced to enter the pool.

"The extraordinary noise caused by the horses' hoofs makes the fish issue from the mud, and excites them to combat. These yellowish and livid eels resemble large aquatic serpents, swim on the surface of the water, and crowd under the bellies of the horses and mules. A contest between animals of so different an organization furnishes a very striking spectacle. The Indians, provided with harpoons and long slender reeds, surround the pool closely; and some climb upon the trees, the branches of which extend horizontally over the surface of the water. By their wild cries, and the length of their reeds, they prevent the horses from running away and reaching the bank of the pool. The eels, stunned by the noise, defend themselves by the repeated discharge of their electric batteries. During a long time they seem to prove victorious. Several horses sink beneath the violence of the invisible strokes which they receive from all sides, in organs the most essential to life; and stunned by the force and frequency of the shocks, disappear under the water. Others, panting, with their mane standing erect, and wild looks, expressing anguish, raise themselves and endeavour to flee from the storms by which they are overtaken. They are driven back by the Indians into the middle of the water; but a small number succeeds in eluding the active vigilance of the fishermen. These regain the shore, stumbling at every step, and stretch themselves on the sand, exhausted with fatigue, and their limbs benumbed by the electric shock of the gymnoti.

"In less than five minutes two horses were drowned. The eel, being five feet long, and pressing itself against the belly of the horses, makes a discharge along the whole extent of its electric organs. It attacks at once the heart, the intestines, and the _plexus cæliacus_ of the abdominal nerves. It is natural, that the effect felt by the horses should be more powerful than that produced upon men by the touch of the same fish at any one of his extremities. The horses are probably not killed, but only stunned. They are drowned from the impossibility of rising from amid the prolonged struggle between the other horses and the eels.

"We had little doubt, that the fishing would terminate by killing successively all the animals engaged; but by degrees the impetuosity of this unequal combat diminished, and the wearied gymnoti dispersed. They require a long rest, and abundant nourishment, to repair what they have lost of galvanic force. The mules and horses appear less frightened; their manes are no longer bristled, and their eyes express less dread. The Indians assured us, that when the horses are made to run two days successively into the same pool, none are killed the second day. The gymnoti approach timidly the edge of the marsh, when they are taken by means of small harpoons fastened to long cords. When the cords are very dry, the Indians feel no shock in raising the fish into the air. In a few minutes we observed five eels, the greater part of which were but slightly wounded. Some were taken by the same means towards the evening.

"The temperature of the water in which the gymnoti habitually live is about 86 degrees of Fahrenheit. Their electric force, it is said, diminishes in colder waters. The gymnotus is the largest of electrical fishes. I measured some that were from four feet to five feet three inches long; and the Indians assert, that they have seen them still larger. We found that a fish of three feet ten inches long weighed twelve pounds. The transverse diameter of the body was three inches five lines. The gymnoti of _Cano de Bera_ are of a fine olive-green colour. The under part of the head is yellow, mingled with red. Two rows of small yellow spots are placed symmetrically along the back, from the head to the end of the tail. Every spot contains an excretory aperture. In consequence the skin of the animal is constantly covered with a mucous matter, which, as Volta has proved, conducts electricity twenty or thirty times better than pure water. It is somewhat remarkable, that no electrical fish yet discovered in the different parts of the world, is covered with scales.

"It would be rashness to expose ourselves to the first shocks of a very large and strongly irritated gymnotus. If by chance you receive a stroke before the fish is wounded, or wearied by a long pursuit, the pain and numbness are so violent, that it is impossible to describe the nature of the feeling they excite. I do not remember having ever received from the discharge of a large Leyden jar, a more dreadful shock than that which I experienced by imprudently placing both my feet on a gymnotus just taken out of the water."

The Torpedo.

It would be difficult to name two fish more dissimilar in outward appearance than the Gymnotus and the Torpedo, and yet they enjoy in common the unique power of communicating electric shocks. The Gymnotus is a long eel-like fish, the Torpedo is round and flat. The Torpedo belongs to the family of the Rays and sometimes reaches a large size. It is common in the Mediterranean and is sometimes found on the southern coasts of the British Isles.

"Although it has once or twice been caught on our coasts," says Mr. Wood, "it is usually found in the Mediterranean, where its powers are well known, and held in some awe. The shock that the Torpedo gives, of course, varies according to the size of the fish and its state of health, but a tolerably large fish in good health can, for the time, disable a strong man. From the effects of its shock, it is in some parts called the Cramp-fish. It has been known to weigh from seventy to a hundred pounds.

The Shark.

The Shark, whose name instinctively suggests a shudder, is the largest of the fishes and one of the largest of marine animals. There are many varieties, and they are found in all seas; some measuring no more than a few feet, others attaining to very large proportions. The Blue Shark of the Mediterranean which measures about eleven feet sometimes approaches the south coast of England and Ireland, as does the Hammer-headed Shark of the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean a shark of twelve feet in length. The Tope, a smaller variety, is often seen in the English channel, as are also several others of the smaller Sharks. The Great Basking Shark which often measures thirty feet in the length is the largest of those which visit the English coast, but like the largest of all the sharks (_Rhinodon Typicus_), which sometimes exceeds fifty feet in length, is herbivorous, and therefore not bloodthirsty.

The White Shark.