It has very long jaws.  They are quite useless, however, being fastened together!  At their tip is an opening, though a very small one, and that is the mouth of the Pipe-fish.  Of course, with such a mouth, the fish cannot bite its prey, and so has to suck in small creatures and swallow them.  Its method of hunting them is strange.  It stands on its head, as it were, takes in a mouthful of water, and spurts it out at the sandy bed of the sea.  This stirs up the small living things, which are at once swallowed by the Pipe-fish.

We have already seen how the male Pipe-fish carries his eggs in his “pocket.”  Another curious thing is his suit of armour.  Instead of scales, he has hard plates all over his body.  Very often you may see young Pipe-fish among Sprats and “Whitebait” in the fishmonger’s shop.

Most of the little shore-fish are either Gobies or Blennies.  No doubt they have to avoid the sharp eyes of Gulls and Cormorants, for they are very anxious not to be seen.  Some of these rock-pool fish do not mind being out of water for hours at a time.  In every way Nature has fitted them for their life between sea and shore.  They have cousins in warmer seas which love to come ashore at times.  This is how a traveller describes one of these foreign Gobies:—­

“Though they are fish, and breathe by gills, they have a passion for the land, and during the daytime may always be seen ashore, especially where the coast is muddy.  They bask in the sun, and hunt for food, raising themselves on their fleshy fins....  When pursued, they take great springs, using their tails and fins for the purpose; and if they cannot escape into the sea, they will dive down the burrow of a land-crab, or dash into a bunch of mangrove-roots.”  They are very wary, having eyes like swivels, to turn in all directions.

[Illustration:  A BUTTERFLY BLENNY]

The Spotted Goby, as we have already noticed, makes a nest under a shell, and guards it until the eggs hatch.  Two other Gobies are quite common in the pools of our south coast—­the One-spot Goby and the Two-spot Goby.  The back fin has the one spot, or two spots, from which they get their name.  Though they are such mites, they have sharp teeth, as you may already know if you have caught them with your fingers!

These lively little fellows are not very easy to catch!  They have a cunning way of hiding amid sand and rock, and are coloured to suit such places.  One strange thing about the Gobies is their trick of anchoring themselves to a stone.

You may wonder what kind of anchor they can use.  It is a simple matter, however.  The fins on the stomach are pressed together to form a little disc.  This acts as a strong sucker, much like that of the Sucking Fish (p. 43).  If the Goby wishes to stay still in one place, it presses its sucker to a stone; then it cannot be washed away by the ever-moving water.

In the Blenny family we find big, ugly fish as well as pretty little ones of strange shapes and lovely colours.  There are several kinds of small Blennies in our rock-pools.  The Eyed Blenny, or Butterfly Blenny is not very common along our shores, but may be seen now and again.  It is only a few inches in length, with eyes like jewels, a kind of tuft over each eye, and a pretty spot on its tall back fin.