File:Aquatic life (1918-1919) (19559064268).jpg

Title: Aquatic life
Identifier: aquaticlife419181919baus (find matches)
Year: 1918-1919 (1910s)
Authors: Bausman, Joseph E
Subjects: Aquariums; Fish culture
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. E. Bausman
Contributing Library: Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
p Color Changes of the Chub-sucker CARL L. HUBBS Field Museum and Chicago Aquarium Society
Text Appearing After Image:
) i Young Chub-sucker (Erimpzon sucetta), snowing full complement of color markings A well-known ichthyologist tells of an interesting experience which once befell him while collecting fishes on the reefs of Panama. Among numerous other gaudily marked little fishes he obtained one which he wished to observe further. This fish he placed in a brightly tinned rail. Returning an hour or so later, he was surprised to find what appeared to be a different fish, pale and plain in color. Leaning over to obtain a closer view he chanced to touch the edge of the pail; in an instant the whole color pattern of the little fish was displayed in all its former conspicuousness. I have had somewhat similar experiences on the reefs of California. Certain sculpins, caught there in the deeper algae-filled tide-pools, were found to be almost uni- form blackish in color; when placed in a light sandy pool or held in my hand they brought out on their bodies, before my astonished gaze, a pattern of black and white almost as contrasting as the ink and paper on this page. Anyone favored with a normally curious frame of mind, upon seeing such color changes exhibited by fishes, would inquire into the significance and the causes of the phenomena. A search through fish literature reveals quite a number of articles dealing with this subject. Would it not, however, prove far more entertaining and instruc- tive to study the problem independently, by direct observation of the changing coloration of some suitable aquarium fish, and then compare our results with those that others have obtained and written of ? For a few weeks past I have kept a young chub-sucker (Erimyzon sucetta), a neat little fish of our own creeks, in a * With five original drawings from nature by Leon L. Pray, Field Museum of Natural History.

Note About Images