Observations on the development of Anableps Gronovii (Cuv. and Val.) : read Sept. 20, 1854 / by Jeffries Wyman.

  • Wyman, Jeffries, 1814-1874.
Date:
[1857]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the development of Anableps Gronovii (Cuv. and Val.) : read Sept. 20, 1854 / by Jeffries Wyman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    one forms a nest upon the bottom with pieces of grass and other vegetable substances, which are woven together, form- ing a covered structure, with two openings, so that when the fish enters it can pass through without being required to turn round to come out. If the materials prove too light, and show a tendency to float, they are loaded with stones till the nest is securely anchored.* The other species constructs its abode upon some aquatic plant elevated above the bottom, or upon some submerged branch or twig of a tree. During incubation, the ova are guarded by the male, and protected against the depredations of the females, which are always ready to devour the eggs almost as soon as deposited-! In another group of fishes, the eggs are neither scattered upon the bottom nor deposited in nests, but assume a more intimate relation with the parent, though still conforming to the oviparous mode. In the Pipe fishes they are attached to the body of one of the parents. In one species, Syngnathus ophiodon, the eggs merely adhere to the under side of the abdomen of the male, where they remain till hatched. But n S. acus, as observed by Ekstroem and others, and in &. Peckii, as observed by Storer and myself, there is found a true marsupial pouch, consisting of two folds of skin, posterior to the anal opening of the male. These folds are directed in- wards, and meet on the median line. In this pouch the eggs are deposited by the female, and remain there till incubation is complete, and even after the eggs are hatched the young return to the pouch as a place of refuge. In all of the preceding instances the foetus is developed exterior to or upon the surface of the body. The Pipe-fishes, which are analogous to the Marsupials among Mammals, form * For a very interesting account of the nest-building of the Sticklebacks, see Hancock Ann. & Mag. of Nat. Hist. Vol. X. N. S. p. 241. 11 have witnessed this habit in a pregnant female which was in my posses- sion. The eggs were deposited during the night, but on the following morning nothing remained of their contents, the empty envelopes being scattered about the bottom of the vessel.