When the
task is done there is a weed-nursery about the size of your fist. Now
all is ready for the eggs to be laid by the female Stickleback. You
would expect them to be kept in a hole amid the nest, would you not?
Instead of that, they are tucked a few here, a few there, in the weed.
Then the father Stickleback mounts guard. Woe betide any small fish
looking for a dinner of Stickleback eggs! The gallant little sentry will
rush at him, with spines as stiff as fixed bayonets, ready to do battle
to the death. When the young are hatched out he still keeps guard. They
are not allowed out of the nursery for some time. The watchful parent
forces them back if they try to wander out into the perils of the
shore-pool.
[Illustration: _Photo: A.F. Dauncey_. SKATE'S EGG CASE]
Let us look at another nest-builder--the Sand Goby, or Spotted Goby, He
is common enough in the pools at low tide, but not easy to find. You can
look at him, yet not see him! For he takes the same colour as the rocks
and sands of his home. Amid the glinting lights and shadows of his
rock-pool, with a background of sand, rock, and weed, this little fish
is nearly invisible.
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