Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/153

112 since that time the species has become increasingly common.

The fishermen call this, as well as other species of the same genus, by the name of Conner. They take it chiefly with hook and line on rocky ground, and as the hook often catches the fish by its thick fleshy lips, no material injury is suffered by it. Hence I get specimens of remarkable beauty brought to me alive and in health, notwithstanding the small dimensions of the vessel in which they are held, perhaps a slop-basin, or some three or four in a little mess-kid, barely wide enough to allow them to turn. But this genus is very hardy, and one of the most easily kept in an Aquarium; a fortunate circumstance, seeing that the splendour of several of our species is such as can scarcely be exceeded by the most richly-tinted denizens of the tropical seas.

Great variety in the hues, and in their arrangement or pattern, is displayed by the Ancient Wrasse. Two specimens can scarcely be found exactly alike. Red and green are the ordinary hues, sometimes pretty equally balanced, at others the one hue predominating almost to the exclusion of the other. The colours too run through various gradations; the red from orange to scarlet, blood-red, and crimson; the green from blue to sea-green, grass-green, olive and brown. One of the most beautiful varieties that I have seen, and one not uncommon, is that in which the green is almost obliterated, appearing only on the head and shoulders; while the body, brown above, softening to silver-white on the sides and belly, is covered by a net-work pattern of deep vermilion, the meshes