The
torpedo narcotizes the creatures that it wants to catch,
overpowering them by the power of shock that is resident in its
body, and feeds upon them; it also hides in the sand and mud, and
catches all the creatures that swim in its way and come under its
narcotizing influence. This phenomenon has been actually observed in
operation. The sting-ray also conceals itself, but not exactly in
the same way. That the creatures get their living by this means is
obvious from the fact that, whereas they are peculiarly inactive, they
are often caught with mullets in their interior, the swiftest of
fishes. Furthermore, the fishing-frog is unusually thin when he is
caught after losing the tips of his filaments, and the torpedo is
known to cause a numbness even in human beings. Again, the hake, the
ray, the flat-fish, and the angelfish burrow in the sand, and after
concealing themselves angle with the filaments on their mouths, that
fishermen call their fishing-rods, and the little creatures on which
they feed swim up to the filaments taking them for bits of sea-weed,
such as they feed upon.
Wherever an anthias-fish is seen, there will be no dangerous
creatures in the vicinity, and sponge-divers will dive in security,
and they call these signal-fishes 'holy-fish'.
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