. Half hours with fishes, reptiles, and birds . der follow, he would see that the eggs were allclinging to her, being carried about in this way untilthey are hatched. This fish with one other, Solenostoma,is the only well-authenticated instance known where themother fish cares for the young or displays any solici-tude for them, the responsibilities all devolving uponthe male parent. The Chromis, found in Lake Tiberias,shows its solicitude for the eggs in a singular way. Assoon as they are deposited, the male fish seizes them inhis capacious mouth and carries them carefully, not onlyuntil they
. Half hours with fishes, reptiles, and birds . der follow, he would see that the eggs were allclinging to her, being carried about in this way untilthey are hatched. This fish with one other, Solenostoma,is the only well-authenticated instance known where themother fish cares for the young or displays any solici-tude for them, the responsibilities all devolving uponthe male parent. The Chromis, found in Lake Tiberias,shows its solicitude for the eggs in a singular way. Assoon as they are deposited, the male fish seizes them inhis capacious mouth and carries them carefully, not onlyuntil they are hatched, but so long that finally the grow-ing youngsters force hislarge mouth and gillsopen, giving him a ludi-crous appearance. Pro-fessor Agassiz found alittle fish in SouthAmerica that protected its eggs and young in Fig. 20. - the sea horse. this way, and it is be-lieved that there are several others. The little sea horses(Fig. 20) and their allies have a method of protecting theireggs which recalls the kangaroo, although it should be. 46 THE NEST-BUILDING FISHES remembered that it is the male, not the female, thathas the pouch into which the eggs are received. Inothers of this group there is no pouch, the eggs beingmerely attached to the abdomen. In the Solenostomafrom the Indian Ocean, a pouch is formed in the femaleby the folding of the ventral fins, and in this the eggsare held in place by long fleshy filaments. This is thesecond instance known to me where the mother displaysany solicitude for her young. THE NEST-BUILDING FISHES A few fishes resemble the birds in their skill in build-ing nests for their young. The salmon and trout may becompared to the gulls, as the nest which they are sup-posed to form in the sand is merely a depression wherethe eggs are deposited. Certain birds, like the brushturkey, erect large mounds of earth and leaves in whichtheir eggs are deposited. This method finds a counter-part in the Semotilus, a fish common in many Northernstreams. On
Size: 1960px × 1275px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1906
