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eyes, complicated in structure, being made up of many layers of electric
plates and capable Fishes of giving a shock of painful intensity.
Doctor fishes are tiny fishes about 3 to 6 inches in size, brilliantly
coloured in blue and black with horizontal strips and are found on the
coast of Maharashtra in the littoral areas. Of the several varieties, the little
cleaner — Fissilabrus dimidiatus is the most curious of sea dwellers,
cleaning the teeth and infected tissues of other fishes and removing their
parasites. It does all this in order to have its meal from other fishes. They
doctor such fishes as squirrel fishes, groupers, vicious moray-eels and
even poisonous scorpion fish. At one cleaning station, or as we may say a
clinical centre, an ichthyologist observed that as many as 300 fishes were
attended to, in a period of about six hours — pretty good going.
(40) RABBIT FISHES
The rabbit fishes, known as ' Thavus' in Bombay, are represented in
Maharashtra waters by 5 species of the genus Siganus belonging to the
family Siganidae. The fish are of moderate size and inhabit rocks and
reefs. Some of them are intricately designed, so much so that one of the
species, Siganus vermiculatus is popularly known as the jigsaw- puzzle
fish. The dorsal, pelvic anal spines are very sharp and are said to be
associated with venom glands and these need to be handled with care.
(41) LITTLE COD
Little cod, Brigmaceros atripinnis, known as ' Tenali' or ' Khada' in
Marathi, is the only representative in India of the well-known cod family
Gadidae, now placed under Brigmacerotidae. It is a slender fish hardly
growing to about 3 inches or 7 cm. in length. Its tiny size is compensated
by very large numbers in which it is caught in ' dol' nets in the coastal sea
off Kolaba and Greater Bombay districts. Annual catch of this fish
averages 3,000 tonnes. Being small and slender, it can be easily dried in
sun and sent to the hinterland for sale in non- fishing season (monsoon).
Being comparatively cheap, it is favoured by people of slender means.
FAUNA 128