As if this were not strange enough, he surprises us again.  Mr. Sea-horse turns himself into a living nursery.  He carries the eggs about with him, in a special pouch of skin!  You will remember that the Pipe-fish also carries the eggs in his pocket, as it were.  So you will not be surprised to hear that these two quaint fish belong to the same family.

We will leave the funny little Sea-horse, and look at a very different fish—­the Sunfish.  This remarkable fish often reaches a good size; even near our coast big ones are caught now and again, and in warmer seas, where they are often killed for the sake of the oil they contain, big fellows of half a ton are quite common.

This Sunfish has a peculiar shape.  It looks as if it had once been an immense fish of the usual fish shape, but someone cut off the head and shoulders, and placed a short fin where the rest of the body had been.  Above and below there is a long pointed fin.  The mouth is very small, and has no real teeth; so the Sunfish lives on small prey, such as the young of other fish, or small shell-fish.

Far away from land these strange Sunfish are met with, asleep near the surface, with the back fin showing above water.  They roll along lazily, not unlike big cart-wheels.  The top and bottom fins are for balancing and guiding the body, which is moved forward by the fin which frills the back part of this odd fish.

[Illustration:  GLOBE FISH]

In the fishmonger’s shop you may sometimes see that ugly monster of the deep, the Angler-fish, or Fishing-frog.  Now and again he finds his way into the fishermen’s nets; and is also caught on the lines, for he is so greedy that he will snap at a hooked fish.  Rather than let go of his prey, he will be drawn to the surface.  Then he is knocked on the head, and thrown into the boat with the other fish.

Being slow and clumsy, the Angler-fish cannot chase his prey, so gets his dinner by fraud.  Nature has given him a fishing line and a bait!  He has long spines on his head, so beautifully joined to the bones of the head that they can wave to and fro very easily.  At the tip of the front spine there is a loose, shining strip of skin—­that is the bait.  Now, all anglers know how a fish is lured by a shining bait.  The Angler-fish seems to know this too.  He buries himself in the wet mud and sand at the bottom of the sea.  Then he waves the long spine, so that the shining tip glistens as it shakes in the water, until a fish swims up to see what it is all about.  A sudden snap, and that inquisitive fish is inside a huge, toad-like mouth, well furnished with rows of sharp teeth.  The Angler-fish puts his catch in his pocket, and begins fishing again, for he is never satisfied.  His pocket is a loose bag of skin in the throat.  This bag is always examined by fishermen who capture the Angler, for it may contain a nice big Plaice or Sole, worth money in the market.

There are Angler-fishes in every ocean, and some live in the very deepest parts.  In those black depths the little waving “bait” would not be seen.  So it is made to shine, like a bluish spark moving to and fro over the cold black slime of the sea-bed.