Pipefish

“ Pipe-fishes are timid and skulking creatures. Like their horse-headed relations, they lurk for the most part among sea-weed for protection, and being but poor swimmers, never venture far from the covering shelter of their native thicket. But the curious part of them is that in this family the father fish is provided with a pouch even more perfect than that of the female tube-mouth, and that he himself, not his mate takes sole charge of the young, incubates them in his sack, and escorts them about for some time after hatching. ”

“ The pipe-fish has its mouth drawn out into a very long snout, so that it forms a kind of tube; the body is sixteen or eighteen inches long, yet scarcely stouter than an ordinary drawing-pencil; and the only fin, besides a small one on the back, is a tiny one at the very tip of the tail. Besides this, the whole head and body are covered with bony plates, which form a [351] kind of coat of mail. And the fish is even odder in habits than in appearance, for when the eggs are laid they are put into a pouch in the lower part of the body of the male, and are kept there until they hatch! ”

“ In the pipe-fish family, too, the ardent evolutionist can trace a whole series of instructive and illustrative gradations in the development of this instinct and the corresponding pouch-like structure among the male fish. With the least highly-evolved types, like the long-nosed pipe-fish of the English Channel, and many allied forms from European seas, there is no pouch at all, but the father of the family carries the eggs about with him, glued firmly on to the service of his abdomen by a natural mucus. ”

“ Some authorities have not hesitated to express an opinion that the young are nourished within the pocket by some fluid or secretion from the pouch itself. But further observation is certainly necessary before this latter opinion can be relied upon.
The Pipe-fishes are very near neighbours of the Sea-horses, and derive their name from the thin elongated shape of their bodies, together with the fact that the jaws are prolonged to form a long pipe-like snout, at the extremity of which the mouth opens. ”

“ Pipe-fishes are not uncommon on our coasts, and you may often find them in the pools among the rocks when the tide is out. They swim half erect in the water, and if you watch them carefully you may see them poking their long snout-like mouths in among the seaweeds in search of food, standing on their heads among the eel-grass, in which position they are hard to see, or blowing furrows in the sand at the bottom of the pool in order to turn out any small creatures which may be lying hidden in it. ”

“ The pipe-fish, a peculiarly shaped specimen, comparatively rare on our Atlantic coast, is worthy a place in your collection; and the shrimp, the acrobat of the aquarium, whose funny little backward movements, when the poor little fellow is frightened, create so much laughter among the little folks, must not be forgotten. Young scallops are very pretty, and when left undisturbed open their shells a trifle, disclosing a beautiful fringe of tiny blue tentacles which wave to and fro with every motion of the water. ”

“ These fishes are very lively in all their movements, and dart through the water so quickly that in many cases the eye is unable to follow them. Like the Sea-horses, the male Pipe-fishes protect and tend their progeny, and exhibit an equal attachment to their young. ”

“ In summer-time soles resort to banks and shallow spots near the mouths of rivers to deposit their spawn. They are obliged to do this in shallow waters, because, like most other fish, they are very unnatural mothers, and leave the sun to do the whole work of hatching for them. To be sure, there are some few right minded fish which take a proper view of their parental responsibilities, such as the pipe-fishes, which carry about their unhatched eggs in a bag, sometimes borne by the affectionate mother, but oftener still by the good father, a perfect model to his human confrères. ”

“ During autumn and winter Rock Pipits may generally be met with in parties, sometimes even in small flocks, congregating on the rocky beaches, the cliffs, and downs, or, at low water, searching amongst the seaweed and shingle for food. They are by no means shy birds, but, if alarmed, rise in scattered order, and, after flitting aimlessly about, again pitch a little farther on, and resume their search. In spring the Rock Pipit separates into pairs, the low-lying shores are deserted, and the birds resort to their several breeding-places. ”

“ Another of our well-known fishes, the bold and fierce Pike, is armed with teeth scarcely less formidable in size, form, and sharpness, than the canines of a carnivorous quadruped. In number also there is great variety. The Pike, the Perch, the Catfish, and many others, have their mouth crowded with innumerable teeth, while the Carp and the Roach have only a few strong teeth in the throat, and a single flat one above; and the Sturgeon, the Pipe-fish, and the Sandlance, are entirely toothless. ”

“ We saw the sunfishes making their nests in little openings in the rushes where the water was only a few feet deep, ploughing up and shoving away the soft gray mud with their noses, like pigs, forming round bowls five or six inches in depth and about two feet in diameter, in which their eggs were deposited. And with what beautiful, unweariable devotion they watched and hovered over them and chased away prowling spawn-eating enemies that ventured within a rod or two of the precious nest!
The pickerel is a savage fish endowed with [117] marvelous strength and speed. ”

“ The pike, termed for its voracity the fresh-water shark, is found in most of the larger lakes and rivers of Great Britain. It grows to an immense size—is easily produced as a pond fish—and, being a bold determined biter, affords excellent sport to the lovers of the art. It is taken with natural and artificial baits, as frogs, mice, minnows or any kind of fry; and when the weather is favourable very little skill is requisite to obtain abundant sport in a well-stocked water. The best mode of pike-fishing is trolling. ”

“ Hence, in many places, various kinds of pipe-fish exhibit an extraordinary amount of imitative likeness to the sargasso or seaweed to whose tags they cling; and in the three most highly developed Australian species the likeness becomes so ridiculously close that it is with difficulty one can persuade oneself one is really and truly looking at a fish, and not at a piece of strangely animated and locomotive fucus. ”

“ Pippies are the best bait one can have for whiting (except prawns) in Australia, for, unlike the English whiting, it will not touch fish bait of any sort, although, when very hungry, it will sometimes take to octopus flesh. Bream, whether black or silvery, flathead, trevally, Jew-fish, and, indeed, all other fish obtained in Australia, are not so dainty, for, although they like 'pippies' and prawns best, they will take raw meat, fish, or octopus bait with readiness. ”

“ As for pike, which are inferior to no fresh-water fish, and now more esteemed than ever, being less plentiful upon draining the fens, and so harm more; they are dangerous guests in the great waters; for if grown large, they will devour and destroy the best fish, and depopulate the water. But thus far you may trust them; if you can procure one hundred jacks once in two years not exceeding nine inches, you may put them with the carps into your great waters, so as your carps are not under nine or ten inches ”

“ This bait is then dropped into holes between the weeds or rushes, and is worked up and down by the lifting and fallin- of the rod-point, the lead within the bait causing it to shoot and dart along as though the fish were alive. When a pike seizes it, ten minutes must be allowed for him to pouch, when the angler must strike firmly, hold on, and get his fish out as well as he can. It is by no means the pleasantest method of fishing, as the waiting is tedious. The fish constantly runs the line foul of the weeds, &c. ”

“ Even among the fish, which, as a rule, drop their eggs and leave them to their fate, we have exceptions in the nest-building sticklebacks and the snake-headed fish of Asia, which watch over and defend their fry till they are strong, in the pipe-fish where the fathers carry the young in a pouch, and in sharks which travel in pairs; while a pike has been known to watch for days at the spot where his mate was caught and taken away, and mackerel and herrings live in shoals and probably call to each other across the sea. ”

“ They have very small gill-openings, a single dorsal fin, and no pelvics.
Pipe-fishes are very sluggish in habit, swimming but little, and living in the shelter of weeds and stones on rocky coasts. In fact, they are not adapted for swimming, and their attempts at this mode of locomotion are awkward in the extreme, for their bodies are rigid and the tail very small. When removed from their hiding-places they move but little, and look as much like pieces of brown or greenish wood as fishes ”

“ When the water in an aquarium becomes bad, they are sure to indicate it by leaving their shells, and trying to crawl out of the tank. In all respects they are the most valuable and interesting inhabitants of the aquarium.
PIPE-FISH.
Pipe-fish are apt to be delicate; still, if your aquarium is in perfect health, and the water is teeming with minute animal life, they will get along nicely. Their favorite food consists of the eggs of all small crustaceans, such as shrimps, sand-hoppers, and lady-crabs. Mrs. Pipe-fish does not take care of the children, but Mr. ”

“ Peculiarities of structure and form, of economy and manners, render this Family, though small both in extent of species and individual dimensions, one of very great interest. Their bodies are long and slender, with the muzzle produced into a tubular snout, just as in the Fistulariadæ among the Acanthopterygii, whence, like them, these have obtained the name of Pipe-fishes. The body is covered with a cuirass of bony plates, generally of angular form, and so arranged that the body itself is many-sided. ”

“ Perch, on the contrary, are said to be so ravenous that they will devour their own spawn, and that of other fishes. They breed freely and are quite hardy, but do not grow rapidly. Trout, when kept in ponds, are rather ravenous; but pike far exceed all other fish in this respect. A large pike will destroy nearly all the small weak fishes in a pond; and, indeed, he has been known to seize young ducks, and devour them. ”

“ The European pike, like its brethren, is the most voracious of fresh-water fishes; it probably exceeds the shark, to which it has been compared by many writers, in the relative quantity of food it consumes. Large specimens will seize rats or water-voles, and are said to attack even foxes and small dogs. Individuals of from 40 ℔ to 50 ℔ are not scarce, but captures of much larger ones are on record. Pike are wholesome food, and much esteemed in inland countries—the smaller (of 20 to 24 in. in length) being preferred to the larger individuals. ”

“ As many as you please to use are then placed in the pond and left to fish while you row about or otherwise employ yourself. If a pickerel takes the bait, the line is jerked out of the cleft, and uncoiling, allows him to carry off and pouch the bait, but when he undertakes to move away he is hooked by the resistance of the wood against the water. The motion of the float can be seen from some distance, and it is quite interesting to chase one after another that go “bobbing around,” as fish after fish is hooked. ”

“ In their wild state they hover and wheel over the surface of the water, watching the shoals of fish beneath, and suddenly sweeping down, bury themselves in the foaming waves; rising immediately from the water by their own buoyancy, up they soar, the pouch laden with the fish scooped up during their momentary submersion. The number of fish the pouch of this species will contain may be easily imagined when we state that it is so dilatable as to be capable of containing two gallons of water ”

“ After a few frantic rushes it weakens very materially, and if kept away from weeds soon gives up the struggle for freedom.
In England, where game-fishes are much scarcer than in this country, the pike is considered a fine game-fish and is much sought after by bait-fishers, and with a wonderful array of murderous traces, minnow-gangs, and spinning tackle. In the United States, where there are so many better game-fishes, it is not often made the object of special pursuit. Most pike are caught by anglers in northern waters when fishing for black-bass. ”

“ In the love season the male pipit occasionally takes his stand on a weed or low bush; but on moors, hills, and stony waste-lands he prefers a stone or mound of earth for a perch. From such an elevation he is able to keep watch on the movements of his mate, and, when the singing spirit takes him, to launch himself easily on the air. To sing he soars up to a height of forty feet or more, then glides gracefully down, with tail spread and wings half-closed and motionless, presenting the figure of a barbed arrow-head. ”

“ Since then that record has only twice been beaten by the two Irish pike mentioned above, and, as I have shown, one of them should be disqualified by reason of being with spawn, and the other is still invested with mystery as to the method of its capture. If we admit gaffed or netted fish into our chronicles we must enlarge our figures, for netting and gaffing are purposely carried on when the fish work into the shallows to deposit their spawn, and they naturally reach heavier weights then than at other times. There are authentic records of fish over 40 lb. ”