Within the Deep | Page 6

roaring and
fighting go on day and night. The gentle Seal is now a savage beast,
covered with wounds.
Then the soft-eyed female Seals come ashore. Now the thing is, for
each big male Seal to claim as many lady Seals as he can. More
fighting, roaring and tearing occur now, in which the lady Seals are
banged about like footballs. The strongest "old man" drags the female
Seal away in his teeth, and plumps her down in his special part of the
beach. Along comes another big Seal to take her away, and the fight
begins again.
Meanwhile, the younger Seals keep out of the way. Strange to say, the
fighting Seals take no food at all, though they are on the beach for
several weeks. A few stones is all they eat, though at other times they
devour numbers of fish at every meal.
EXERCISES
1. How could you tell the Sea-lion from the real Seal? 2. Where are the
Seal "rookeries"? What happens there in the springtime? 3. Why is the
Sea-elephant so named?

LESSON IV
SOME STRANGE NURSERIES
As a rule, nests or nurseries are unknown in the world of fishes. They
lay their eggs and leave them; and the young ones have to fight their
own battles, in a sea full of fierce and hungry enemies. Indeed, it often
happens that a parent fish is eager to make a meal of its own children!
The Codfish lays about nine million eggs! You would hardly expect the
female Codfish to make a nursery for such a family! She would be
much worse off than the "old woman who lived in a shoe." As a matter
of fact, the eggs are laid in the open sea; and the Cod shows no interest

in them, but leaves them to become food for many a roving enemy.
Those cousins of the Shark,--the Skate and the Dog-fish,--are more
careful of their eggs. Have you ever found their empty eggs on the sea
shore? Children call them "mermaids' purses." But they are more like
little horny pillow-cases than purses.
When first laid, the Dog-fish's egg has a very long string or tendril at
each corner. As the fish lays the egg, she winds these tendrils round and
round a sea-plant; thus the egg is fixed firmly until the young one is
ready to escape from within (see p. 49).
The Skate's egg is much the same, only there is no tendril, but a curved
hook at each corner. These hooks, of course, serve as anchors to hold
the egg: no doubt they catch in weeds and stones. One fish, you see,
ties her eggs with strings, the other uses anchors. These large "purse
eggs" are like cradles, and the baby Skates do not slip out of them until
they are quite ready to look after themselves in the ocean.
There are fish in the sea which take great pains to save their eggs and
babies from harm; they will even defend them at the risk of their own
lives. Of course these careful parents do not have huge families, like
the Cod. No; the fish that care for their young have small families, but
the babies have a much better chance of living than the baby Cod. It is
one of Nature's wise laws.
Our common Stickleback--"Tiddler," or "Red-throat," as boys call
him--builds a nest in ponds. He has a seaside cousin, the fifteen-spined
Stickleback, who is also a nest-builder. This little fish is fairly common
round our coasts, living in weedy pools by the shore, where it devours
any small creature unlucky enough to come near. It is about six inches
long, this sea Stickleback, with a long snout, and its body is very thin
near the tail.
To build his nest, this little fish chooses a quiet corner, then gathers
pieces of green and purple seaweed. He takes the pieces in his mouth,
pushing them about until the shape is to his liking. Having got his
nursery to the right size and shape, the little builder next fastens it

together. How can he do this? What mortar can he find in the sea? It is
quite simple. He uses threads, which come from his own body. He
swims round the nest, again and again; and, each time, a thread is spun,
binding the clump of weed into a safe, tight nest for the eggs. When the
task is done there is a weed-nursery about the size of your fist. Now all
is ready for the eggs to be laid by the female Stickleback. You would
expect them to be kept in a hole amid the nest, would you not? Instead
of that, they are tucked a few here, a few there, in the weed.
Then the father Stickleback mounts guard.