SWIMMING ANIMALS
_
79
ocellaris) may lay its eggs inside a bottle, and if this bottleis
.
drédged up
in' a net it is quite likely that the; parent Will
be found inside keeping watch over them., They have even ‘
been
inside an ox—bone.
'
The gunnel or buttersh (Centronotus) guards its eggs by
coiling itself c0mpletely round them; as can be Seen in Plate
32; the male sÿck]eb_ag_k and severalspecies of masse build
nests of weed within which the eggs are deposited. In the
case of the pipe-shes, which live amongst the sea
the males carry the eggs in a pouch nder their tails.
'
Almost all of'_our food =shes and many others, however,
show no such parental solicitude for their , ospring’s
'
welfare.
They ”merelycast their eggs forth freely into the
—
water, and these eggs are not heavy and stick-y as those
mentioned'above, but are so nearly of the same weight as '
sea water that they drift; about in the water layers at all
depths between the surface andthe bottom.
Here they
are at the mercy of tide and currents and are carried many
miles from the region where their parents spawned.
The
dangers are many ; they are not in sheltered crannies withparents to. guard them; there are enemies all around to
devour them; if their Own parents happen to meet them
again they will'eat them with the greatest relish.
What
then is the provision for their safety?
There is a well'
known proverb,
“
there is
numbers,’Î and perhaps
nowhere does this hold better than in the case of these careîree sh
We remarked above that those shes who xed
their eggs to the rocks laid comparatively few ; by this is
meant never more than a thousand and probably considerably less.
But what is this to the vemillion eggs a cod
will lay, or the eight million laid by a turbot?
And yet
.
such are the dangers to be faced during the life of a sh that
,
it is doùbtful whether, at most, as many as ten out of these
.
millions will survive to maturity.
,
_
79
ocellaris) may lay its eggs inside a bottle, and if this bottleis
.
drédged up
in' a net it is quite likely that the; parent Will
be found inside keeping watch over them., They have even ‘
been
inside an ox—bone.
'
The gunnel or buttersh (Centronotus) guards its eggs by
coiling itself c0mpletely round them; as can be Seen in Plate
32; the male sÿck]eb_ag_k and severalspecies of masse build
nests of weed within which the eggs are deposited. In the
case of the pipe-shes, which live amongst the sea
the males carry the eggs in a pouch nder their tails.
'
Almost all of'_our food =shes and many others, however,
show no such parental solicitude for their , ospring’s
'
welfare.
They ”merelycast their eggs forth freely into the
—
water, and these eggs are not heavy and stick-y as those
mentioned'above, but are so nearly of the same weight as '
sea water that they drift; about in the water layers at all
depths between the surface andthe bottom.
Here they
are at the mercy of tide and currents and are carried many
miles from the region where their parents spawned.
The
dangers are many ; they are not in sheltered crannies withparents to. guard them; there are enemies all around to
devour them; if their Own parents happen to meet them
again they will'eat them with the greatest relish.
What
then is the provision for their safety?
There is a well'
known proverb,
“
there is
numbers,’Î and perhaps
nowhere does this hold better than in the case of these careîree sh
We remarked above that those shes who xed
their eggs to the rocks laid comparatively few ; by this is
meant never more than a thousand and probably considerably less.
But what is this to the vemillion eggs a cod
will lay, or the eight million laid by a turbot?
And yet
.
such are the dangers to be faced during the life of a sh that
,
it is doùbtful whether, at most, as many as ten out of these
.
millions will survive to maturity.
,