Within the Deep | Page 7

Woe betide any small fish
looking for a dinner of Stickleback eggs! The gallant little sentry will
rush at him, with spines as stiff as fixed bayonets, ready to do battle to
the death. When the young are hatched out he still keeps guard. They
are not allowed out of the nursery for some time. The watchful parent
forces them back if they try to wander out into the perils of the
shore-pool.
[Illustration: Photo: A.F. Dauncey. SKATE'S EGG CASE]
Let us look at another nest-builder--the Sand Goby, or Spotted Goby,
He is common enough in the pools at low tide, but not easy to find.
You can look at him, yet not see him! For he takes the same colour as
the rocks and sands of his home. Amid the glinting lights and shadows
of his rock-pool, with a background of sand, rock, and weed, this little
fish is nearly invisible. Of course it is a dodge, and a useful one, to
escape the eye of the enemy!
Perhaps you will not think the Spotted Goby so clever at nest-building
as the Stickleback. He likes to use a "ready-made" house, whereas the
Stickleback finds his own "bricks and mortar." In the pools of the shore
there is no lack of houses to let, the empty homes of shell-fish are there
in plenty. So the little Goby, when nesting time comes, hunts round for
the empty shell of a Cockle lying with its hollow side to the sand.
This shell is to be used as the roof for the nursery. The Goby's next task
is to make a hole beneath the shell. He sets to work and, by scooping
out the sand, makes a hole about as large as a marble. To keep the sand
from tumbling in, he smears the hole with slime, which soon binds hard

like mortar. Now the nursery is nearly ready; but a passage-way is
made, passing under the edge of the shell, and then, to make things
quite safe, the whole roof is covered with sand: it then looks more like
a bump in the sand than a fish-nursery.
The female Goby enters the nest, and leaves her eggs in it; and then the
little father fish is left in charge. He rests on the sand, near the entrance.
When the little ones appear, he seems to think he has done his duty. So
away, he swims, not staying, like the father Stickleback, to guard the
youngsters. Again we see that the father, and not the mother, is the
builder and nurse.
[Illustration: CORALS OF MANY KINDS.]
That very strange creature, the Pipe-fish, has the most peculiar nursery
of all. He uses no building material! No made-up nest of weed or sand
for him! No, he prefers to carry his eggs in his pocket. To be more
exact, there is a small pouch under his body, and there the eggs are kept
until they hatch. Meanwhile, the Pipe-fish goes about his affairs in the
pool as if nothing particular had happened. You will see more about
this funny little fish when we come to our lesson on "The Fish of our
Rock-pools."
EXERCISES
1. What are the eggs of the Skate and the Dog-fish like? 2. How does
the Sea-stickleback build his nest? 3. Where would you find the Sand
Goby, the Pipe-fish, and the Sea-stickleback? 4. How does the Sand
Goby build its nest?

LESSON V
THE OGRE OF THE DEEP
The ogre of the fairy-tale is bad enough, but, for evil looks, the Octopus
is worse still. With his tough, brownish skin, knobbed like the toad's
back, his large staring eyes, his parrot's beak, and ugly bag of a body,

the Octopus is a horrid-looking creature. Add to this eight long arms
twisting and writhing like snakes, and you have an idea of the most
hideous inhabitant of the deep.
Then, like the ogre, the Octopus lives in a cave, and goes forth at night
to claim his victims. He tears them to pieces, and returns to his dark
cavern when daylight comes.
Before seeing how this ugly monster lives, eats, breathes and fights, we
must know something of the way he is made. In the first place, it may
surprise you to know that the Octopus's body is made on the same plan
as that of the snail. The ogre of the ocean and the Garden Snail are
second cousins! Their family name--mollusc--means soft-bodied.
But there are such numbers of molluscs that we split them up into
different orders, just as a big school is split into classes. The Octopus
belongs to an order of molluscs with a long name, which only means
head-footed. Why is he called head-footed? The snail, as you know, has
one broad foot under its body. The