On the subject of its instant death, when removed from its native
element to fresh water, the same naturalist remarks, alluding to the
hypothesis that the speedy death of fishes in general, when removed
into the atmosphere, is due to the drying of the delicate membranes of
the gills; “the reverse of desiccation takes place in this instance:
the gills are bathed with a fluid containing more oxygen than
sea-water, and which also yields that oxygen much easier, yet death
happens immediately. In this last instance it may be inferred that the
fish, unable suddenly to accommodate its respiratory organs to fluids
of such different densities as those of pure sea and fresh water, the
blood is imperfectly aërated, the brain is affected, convulsions ensue,
and if not released it soon dies.”[103]
You will pretty certainly find in your net, too, twining and writhing
about like little snakes, some of the smaller species of Pipe-fishes,
often called Sea-adders, and most abundantly the smallest of them,
and the commonest in shallow waters,--the Worm Pipe.[104] The pretty
Æquoreal Pipe, or as Mr. Couch appropriately names it, the Painted
Sea-adder (from the variegated tints of brown and yellow, wherewith its
numerous angular plates are individually adorned), is abundant enough
all along our southern coast, in deeper water, affecting the extensive
beds of zostera, and of sea-weeds, which in many places clothe the
bottom. The eminent Cornish zoologist observes of this species, that
“in May and June, and frequently in July, and occasionally in August,
these fish rise to the surface of the water, however deep it may
be, and bask themselves in the sun. They retain their position at
the surface by clasping with their tails the cords and buoys of the
crab-pots, sticks, or any other substance they may find floating at the
surface. The whole of the caudal portion of the body is coiled round
the stick or cord, and the heads lie either horizontally or at right
angles to the surface. In some seasons the buoy-ropes of the crab-pots
are literally obscured by them from the surface of the water down as
far as the eye can penetrate.”