NEST-BUILDING FISHES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 193, 12 August 1878, Page 4

NEST-BUILDING FISHES.

The anabatidce form of one of the moat remarkable of all species of fiahee owing to their capability of living for a long time out of water, a power which has formed in them some curious habits. The anabas scandens, or climbing perch of India, has been known to live for sis daya out of its appropriate element ; and some will sometimes quit the water and wander over the land, co far from any Btream or pood that they were formerly supposed lo have dropped from the eloacjs. The German naturalist Daldfoff states that he onbe aaw one oftbia species whichib&d cllirtteil d trea to the height o!fiT©:feo;bat thieiMtated by other

observers to be an impossibility. This power is due to the peculiar structure of the pliiryogeai bones, which, iv a cavity \n a base of the ekull, are dilated into voluminous lamina, forming cells in which a supply of water may be carried for the purpose of keeping the gills moist. But the goursmi's instinct is more peculiar than that of any other member of the tribe. By their united labours the male and female construct a well-built nest, in which the ova are deposited and which protects the young fry from the thousand enemies by whom infantile fish are pursued and tormented. The body of the gourami is of a brownish colour, varied with some golden tints on its sides ; the belly is of a silvery brown. The conformation of the fish is high from its belly to back, and the body is narrow ; the head is short, the mouth small and protractile. The scales are large and round. The fish is properly herbivorous, but will eat insects and earth worma ; and it is so voracious that, says M, Dabrey de Thiersant, the Creoles of Mauritius call it the hog of the river. The gourami, like most other anabatidce , is found throughout the East Indies, and is a valuable food, fish of delicious flavour, resembling that of English carp. Many attempts have been made by the French to acclimatise it, especially in Cayenne; but little success haa been met with. In Algiers other attempts have been made, and greater encouragement followed. At the Cape of Good Hope and in Australia the experiments were entirely successful.— Scientific American.