Guide to the aquarium of the zoological station at naples

79 THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF CHARLES A KOFOID MRS PRUDENCE W AND KOFOID r-O GUIDE TO THE OF THE ZOOLOGICAL STATION AT NAPLES, FOURTH EDITION WITH 175 ILLUSTKATIONS LEIPZIG PRINTED BY BREITKOPF & HARTEL 1896 Part second The French Sardines differ only in size; for consumption during Lent the fish are cleaned, salted, plunged into boiling olive-oil, and packed in the tins with which we are familiar they are sold annually to the value of 10 to 15 millions of francs The experiment has been made ; with some success of similarly treating the English Sardines The whole genus Clupea is ill-suited for a life in captivity, and the Sardines will never be seen in the Aquarium; all the experiments to keep them there have resulted only in their rapidly losing their scales and dying Visitors, however, will probably have an opportunity, during their stay in Naples, of recognizing them in their fried condition at the dining table A fish only found in the Aquarium at certain seasons is the Bellowsalso called the fish, Trumpeter or Sea-snipe, Centriscus (Fig 54) The peculiar order of an sion are almost immobile of Plectognathi are characterised by the possesupper jaw and a spiny or armoured skin They tropical forms; many, such as the Urchin-fish or Seahedgehog, the Globe-fish, and the Trunk-fish, are usually well represented by dried specimens in Natural History Museums The Bay of Naples contains two examples of this curious order of fishes: the Sun-fish, Orthagoriscus, and the File-fish, Balistes (Fig 76) The former has up to the present been one of the greatest rarities of the Aquarium, and has rarely lived there longer than a week, so that we can give no all interesting details of its habits Balistes, however, is always present (in tank 18) from spring till winter, and is very remarkable; its short body being out of all proportion in height, and its mouth provided only with It is a lively fish, loving very few teeth companionship, and endowed with great curiosity It is, however, only in summer that it shews its real nature, and specimens in the Aquarium always die at the commencement of the winter It lives on mollusks and crabs, which it grinds up with its sharp teeth, making so much noise in so doing, that it can be heard through the glass of the tank It used formerly to share a tank with the Turtle, but never let the latter get a meal; and it had to be separated from the Lobsters, as it used to attack their eyes turn to the true pelagic "errant" forms, the Mackerels Just as the Petrel and the Frigate-bird spend their life hovering over the endless expanse of the ocean, so the Mackerels rove about below the surface of the sea; approaching the coasts only periodically, when, We may now however, they are caught in enormous numbers Repeated trials to keep these shy but active fishes in the Aquarium have been unsuccessful Nor can we expect the Tunny, or its ally the Swordfish, those two roving forms, to live in the cramped surroundings of our tanks They all career about madly for a few hours and then die becomes accustomed Only one small genus of Mackerel, Lichia (Fig 44), captivity and lasts out like Balistes during the summer months; its skin shines like silver To the same order as the Mackerels belongs the "Cuckoo", Capros Unlike its relations it lives at a (Fig 53) depth of 30 to 40 fathoms, but it also thrives well in the shallow water to its of tank Nr Reptiles 99 REPTILES (REPTILIA) Beside Amphioxus other vertebrate animal and the numerous orders of fishes only one found in the Aquarium, but this one is all is It the more imposing is the Caouana, Thalassochelys (Fig 64), a Mediterranean turtle, which grows to much more than feet in length and may attain a weight of 400 pounds It is found on all coasts of the Mediterranean and on the European shores of the Atlantic It feeds crabs and other small animals and fights most desperately when aug ht, its sharp jaws being a most formidable weapon In captivity, too, it retains its ferocity for some time, and the specimens in the Aquarium have occasionally had such severe fights, that now they are mostly isolated In the winter they become lazy and lose their voracious ap- They are economically speaking valueless, as the and the shell or carapace cannot be worked petite flesh is tasteless INDEX TO PART SECOND Acorn-barnacle 75 Index Keeled snails M 101 ... THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF CHARLES A KOFOID MRS PRUDENCE W AND KOFOID r-O GUIDE TO THE OF THE ZOOLOGICAL STATION AT NAPLES, FOURTH EDITION... sufficient impresThe sion of the animal to lead to its identification asterisk (*) before a name signifies that the animal does not occur at all seasons of the year The ascending streams of silvery... by their backs to dead coral-stems (Antipathes, see tank 21) in the centre of the tank; they are yellow or red and have ten plumed arms Antedon rosacea, Fig attached to a branch of Antipathes,