Seahorse

“ Occasionally as we glide along, aquatic birds soar through the air in search of their morning meal; blackfish sport in the water, their fins cutting the surface as they disappear into the depths; and now a little snipe, flying around and around, trying to alight on the vessel, causes a stir among the passengers. A short distance away appears the head of a seal, evidently in search of its prey, and the leaping fish tell the rest of the story. How many things appeal to the lover of nature! ”

“ Seals and that whole tribe of sea-animals, are not so numerous as in many other seas. Nor can this be thought strange, since there is hardly any part of the coast, on either continent, nor any of the islands lying between them, that is not inhabited, and whose inhabitants hunt these animals for their food and clothing. Sea-horses are, indeed, in prodigious numbers about the ice; and the sea-otter is, I believe, no where found but in this sea. We sometimes saw an animal, with a head like a seal's, that blew after the manner of whales. ”

“ And all around, over the great, wide sea, these showers of living gems are leaping in and out of it. It is a most beautiful sight. The body of the fish is of a light, gleaming blue, and the delicate film-like wings, springing from just behind the gills, and extending backwards almost to the tail, set it, as they rapidly quiver, in a soft and silvery haze.
It is, of course, the pectoral fins that thus perform the office of wings, and by moving them and steering a course, their owner flies as truly, for the time, as does either a bird or a bat. ”

“ Sea-horses swim vertically like little mermaids, twining their tails together, or around the long fronds of many-tinted seaweeds, whilst strange and varied forms of mollusc and crustacean move upon the shell-strewn sand, or amidst the bright mazes of the coral—but still our crab makes no sign. ”

“ Yet, be faithful, my love, remember Anningait, and meet my return with the smile of virginity. I will chase the deer, I will subdue the whale, resistless as the frost of darkness, and unwearied as the summer sun. In a few weeks I shall return prosperous and wealthy; then shall the roe-fish and the porpoise feast thy kindred; the fox and hare shall cover thy couch; the tough hide of the seal shall shelter thee from cold; and the fat of the whale illuminate thy dwelling. ”

“ These fish have two arms, or horns, which they put out of their shells, and stretch a kind of skin across them, which makes a little sail, just like the sail of a ship. They then stretch two more arms out of the shell, which they use as oars or paddles; and when the sea is calm they amuse themselves by sailing about on the water, and look very pretty; but if a storm comes on, they draw in their horns and their little sails, and sink to the bottom. ”

“ After the disappearance of the whales, several hours passed, during which we lay under our awning without a word being spoken by any one. Throughout this day, the sea seemed to be alive with fish; myriads of them were to be seen in every direction; troops of agile and graceful dolphins; revolving black-fish, chased by ravenous sharks; leaping albatross, dazzling the eye with the flash of their golden scales, as they shot into the air for a moment; porpoises, bonito, flying-fish, and a hundred unknown kinds which I had never seen or heard of. ”

“ The fins are small—so small as to appear almost rudimentary—yet the fish swims, or rather darts, along the bottom with amazing rapidity. They love to lie along the banks a few feet from the shore, where, concealed in the sand, they can dart out upon and seize their prey in their enormous 'gripsack'mouths. The approach of a boat, or a person walking along the sand, will cause them to at once speed like lightning into deep water, leaving behind them a wake of sand and mud, which is washed off their backs in their flight. ”

“ We have dominion over the fishes of the sea, we strew the net and bring them in for our food; we hunt the whale for his oil and for the fringe of bone in his mouth; we dive into the sea after the oyster that we may extract from it the pearl, and we strip the shell of its rainbow-coloured scales to inlay therewith our furniture. ”

“ Gesner, in giving this delineation of a Sea-Horse, openly says that it is the Classical horse, as used by Neptunus; but Olaus Magnus declares that “The Sea Horse, between Britany and Norway, is oft seen to have a head like a horse, and to neigh; but his feet and hoof are cloven like to a Cow’s; and he feeds both on Land, and in the Sea. He is seldome taken, though he grow to be as big as an Ox. He hath a forked Tail like a Fish. ”

“ It is a shoal of herring, which have come there to feed upon the sea-animals, keeping out of sight of the sea-birds above, and the cod and sharks and ravenous fish which hunt them without mercy, so that they only venture to come to the surface on calm dark nights. It was in valleys such as these that the herrings were living when the older naturalists thought they were gone away to the Polar Seas, because they only saw them in spring and autumn, when they come into shallower water to drop their myriads of eggs,39 which sink down, and stick to the seaweed and stones below. ”

“ By this line the stricken animal tows the harpooner’s boat along with fearful rapidity, an immense wave curling far above the high bow. The flesh of the young whale is excellent,—very like veal,—and with the black population the whaling season is one of great feasting and enjoyment. ”

“ The front filament of all, bends forward and seems to dangle from its end, in front of the angler’s huge mouth, a little silvery tuft, or piece, of something, so that the whole has a wonderful resemblance to a fishing-rod and line, with a baited hook at the end of it. The owner of this curious arrangement lies along the bottom of the sea, near the shore, almost hidden in the sand, and when a small fish, attracted by the shining appendage, comes to nibble at it, makes a rush and engulfs, rather than seizes, it in its cavernous jaws. ”

“ Though they are fish, and breathe by gills, they have a passion for the land, and during the daytime may always be seen ashore, especially where the coast is muddy. They bask in the sun, and hunt for food, raising themselves on their fleshy fins.... When pursued, they take great springs, using their tails and fins for the purpose; and if they cannot escape into the sea, they will dive down the burrow of a land-crab, or dash into a bunch of mangrove-roots. ”

“ Being mostly small and defenceless creatures, lurking among the marine vegetation of the shoals and reefs, they are usually accustomed to cling for support by their snake-like tails to the stalks or leaves of those submerged forests. The omniscient schoolboy must often have watched in aquariums the habits and manners of the common sea-horses, twisted together by their long thin bodies into one inextricable mass of living matwork, or anchored firmly with a treble serpentine coil to some projecting branch of coralline or of quivering sea-wrack. ”

“ And the great Black Horse, with his inky mane and tail and his green-lighted eyes, ranged through all that region and added to his following from many bands till not less than a score of mares were in his 'bunch.' Most were merely humble cow-ponies turned out to range, but the nine great mares were there, a striking group by themselves. ”

“ The supply of timber seems almost inexhaustible. Ducks and other wild fowl are numerous. Whales and seals abound, as well as excellent fish of various kinds. We were tolerably successful in shooting and fishing. I may enliven this part of my address by reading Dr Hector’s animated account of one of our seal hunts, in which, however, we were not fortunate. ‘On one occasion,’ he states, ‘the chase of five seals with the steam pinnace of the ‘Clio’ in the waters of Milford Sound affords a novel and exciting sport. ”

“ Rudely drawn figures of the whale, narwhal, walrus, seal, and polar bear were sketched here and there upon the chart, as though to indicate spots where these animals had been seen by the author of the document; and on the island shown in the small subsidiary chart, great numbers of animals were drawn, among those represented being hares, foxes, deer, seals, and elephants, besides others which the travellers failed to identify. There was also a sketch of a ship—very similar in appearance to the craft from which the chart had been taken—represented as sailing away from the island. ”

“ The water is so strongly impregnated with phosphorus that every wave is tipped with silver, and every fish that darts about leaves a brilliant trail like that of a comet. The larger fishes, the sharks and porpoises, find great sport in swimming races with the ship, and under the bowsprit a small army of them are to be seen every evening, sailing along beside the vessel, darting back and forth before its bows, leaping and plunging over one another. ”

“ It is a pleasant sight to watch these fish whilst about the ship; their agile movements in pursuit of the flying-fish; their instinct teaching them that these are to be found in the greatest number about the vessel’s prow, which, in her onward course, disturbs them in their retreats, and forces them to seek safety in the air, on their descent from which an ever watchful enemy is prepared to meet and devour some of their number. ”

“ Sea-horses differ from pipe-fishes by having a prehensile and invariably finless tail; it is long, slender, tapering, quadrangular in a transverse section, and, like the rest of the body, encased in a dermal skeleton, which consists of horny segments, allowing of ventral, and in a less degree of lateral, but not of dorsal, flexion. ”

“ These boxes of shells hanging on the wall came home in her from the West Indies, the boxes of red and white coral are from the East Indies, now look here, this is a case of flying fish, and what people call sea horses; the flying fish came aboard, but the sea horses were caught by one of the apprentices by hanging a piece of teased out rope over the side, and the little things get caught in it, they don’t live many minutes when they are taken out of the water as the air kills them. ”

“ They say also, 'Every herring must hang by its own gills'; and their favourite toast is, 'Life to man and death to fish.' They count one hundred and twenty-four fish to the hundred, thus: they first sort out lots of one hundred and twenty, then add three to each lot, which is called 'warp,' and then a single herring, which is called 'tally.' Before shooting the nets at sea, every man goes down on his knees at a sign from the skipper of the boat, and, with his head uncovered, prays for a blessing on the fishing. ”

“ IN the sea, once upon a time, O my Best Beloved, there was a Whale, and he ate fishes. He ate the starfish and the garfish, and the crab and the dab, and the plaice and the dace, and the skate and his mate, and the mackereel and the pickereel, and the really truly twirly-whirly eel. All the fishes he could find in all the sea he ate with his mouth—so! Till at last there was only one small fish left in all the sea, and he was a small ‘Stute Fish, and he swam a little behind the Whale’s right ear, so as to be out of harm’s way. ”

“ I suppose they live partly on fish and partly on grass, for they come on shore by means of their fore paws, dragging their hind parts after them, and bask themselves in the sun in great numbers. They cut near a foot deep of fat, and we killed a good many of them for the sake of their oil, which is of good quality, but they are difficult to kill. Both sea-lions and seals were so numerous on the shore, that we had to drive them away before we could land, and they were so numerous as is hardly credible, making a most prodigious noise. ”

“ Just at this interval, a servant who had gone to the beach with his net to catch a fish for his majesty's service, on reaching the sea, saw a large whale which had been thrown on the beach and was dead. But inside the fish he saw something move, and heard a voice that said, "Take me out of this, take me out of this." The servant fetched a knife, and very carefully cut the skin of the whale, and he then saw the head of a maiden, and he continued to rip up the fish, greatly astonished at what he saw, and at last extricated alive the maiden from the belly of the great fish. ”

“ The sword-caper, with its delicate tail and large caudal fins, swam with incomprehensible quickness, feeding on smaller animals, such as the cod, as swift as itself; while the white whale, which is more inactive, swallowed peacefully the tranquil, lazy mollusks. ”

“ In one thing he surpasses most other fishes, for he is a most careful father, carrying the mother’s eggs in a little pouch under his body till the young ones escape. There is one form of these sea-horses in tropical seas which has long red fringes floating from its body, so that it cannot be distinguished from the seaweed in which it hides. ”

“ But although it is by no means probable that any of us will ever catch a sea-horse, we might get even stranger fish upon our hooks. If we had a very large hook, a long and strong line, and a tempting bait, it is just possible, if we were to go to exactly the right spot, and had extraordinary good fortune, that we might catch such a beauty as this. ”

“ Of Marine Fishes, some roam the wide ocean, some play around the coral islands of the tropics, others affect the mud, or the sands of the shallows; some linger near the estuaries of great rivers; others come in mighty armies around the coast at particular seasons, retiring again to the deep water in the offing; finally, some habitually keep near the surface, while others rarely rise from the vicinity of the bottom. ”

“ This sea-horse is a wonderfull strong monster of the sea, much bigger then an oxe, which keepes continually in the seas, hauing a skinne like a sea-calfe or seale, with very short hair, mouthed like a lyon, and many times they lie vpon the ice; they are hardly killed vnlesse you strike them iust vpon the forehead; it hath foure feet, but no eares, and commonly it hath one or two young ones at a time. ”