The limpet detaches itself from the rock and goes about in quest
of food. Of shell-fish that are mobile, some are carnivorous and
live on little fishes, as for instance, the purple murex-and there can
be no doubt that the purple murex is carnivorous, as it is caught by a
bait of fish; others are carnivorous, but feed also on marine
vegetation.
The sea-turtles feed on shell-fish-for, by the way, their mouths
are extraordinarily hard; whatever object it seizes, stone or other,
it crunches into bits, but when it leaves the water for dry land it
browses on grass). These creatures suffer greatly, and oftentimes
die when they lie on the surface of the water exposed to a scorching
sun; for, when once they have risen to the surface, they find a
difficulty in sinking again.
Crustaceans feed in like manner. They are omnivorous; that is to
say, they live on stones, slime, sea-weed, and excrement-as for
instance the rock-crab-and are also carnivorous. The crawfish or
spiny-lobster can get the better of fishes even of the larger species,
though in some of them it occasionally finds more than its match.
Thus, this animal is so overmastered and cowed by the octopus that
it dies of terror if it become aware of an octopus in the same net
with itself.
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