Still, by hook and by crook17 (especially the former), by observation here and experiment there, naturalists19 in the end have managed to piece together a considerable mass of curious and interesting information of an out-of-the-way sort about the domestic habits and manners of sundry20 piscine races. And, indeed, the morals of fish are far more varied21 and divergent than the uniform nature of the world they inhabit might lead an à priori philosopher to imagine. To the eye of the mere casual observer every fish would seem at first sight to be a mere fish, and to differ but little in sentiments and ethical22 culture from all the rest of his remote cousins. But when one comes to look closer at their character and antecedents, it becomes evident at once that there is a deal of unsuspected originality24 and caprice about sharks and flat-fish. Instead of conforming throughout to a single plan, as the young, the gay, the giddy, and the thoughtless are too prone25 to conclude, fish are in reality as various and variable in their mode of life as any other great group in the animal kingdom. Monogamy and polygamy, socialism and individualism, the patriarchal and matriarchal types of government, the oviparous and viviparous methods of reproduction, perhaps even the dissidence of dissent26 and esoteric Buddhism27, all alike are well represented in one family or another of this extremely eclectic and philosophically28 unprejudiced class of animals.
If you want a perfect model of domestic virtue29, for example, where can you find it in higher perfection than in that exemplary and devoted30 father, the common great pipe-fish of the North Atlantic and the British Seas? This high-principled lophobranch is so careful of its callow and helpless young that it carries about the unhatched eggs with him under his own tail, in what scientific ichthyologists pleasantly describe as a subcaudal pouch31 or cutaneous receptacle. There they hatch out in perfect security, free from the dangers that beset32 the spawn33 and fry of so many other less tender-hearted kinds; and as soon as the little pipe-fish are big enough to look after themselves the sac divides spontaneously down the middle, and allows them to escape, to shift for themselves in the broad Atlantic. Even so, however, the juniors take care always to keep tolerably near that friendly shelter, and creep back into it again on any threat of danger, exactly as baby-kangaroos do into their mother's marsupium. The father-fish, in fact, has gone to the trouble and expense of developing out of his own tissues a membranous35 bag, on purpose to hold the eggs and young during the first stages of their embryonic36 evolution. This bag is formed by two folds of the skin, one of which grows out from each side of the body, the free margins38 being firmly glued together in the middle by a natural exudation40, while the eggs are undergoing incubation, but opening once more in the middle to let the little fish out as soon as the process of hatching is fairly finished.
So curious a provision for the safety of the young in the pipe-fish may be compared to some extent, as I hinted above, with the pouch in which kangaroos and other marsupial41 animals carry their cubs42 after birth, till they have attained44 an age of complete independence. But the strangest part of it all is the fact that while in the kangaroo it is the mother who owns the pouch and takes care of the young, in the pipe-fish it is the father, on the contrary, who thus specially18 provides for the safety of his defenceless offspring. And what is odder still, this topsy-turvy arrangement (as it seems to us) is the common rule throughout the class of fishes. For the most part it must be candidly45 admitted by their warmest admirer, fish make very bad parents indeed. They lay their eggs anywhere on a suitable spot, and as soon as they have once deposited them, like the ostrich46 in Job, they go on their way rejoicing, and never bestow47 another passing thought upon their deserted48 progeny49. But if ever a fish does take any pains in the education and social upbringing of its young, you're pretty sure to find on enquiry it's the father—not as one would naturally expect, the mother—who devotes his time and attention to the congenial task of hatching or feeding them. It is he who builds the nest, and sits upon the eggs, and nurses the young, and imparts moral instruction (with a snap of his jaw50 or a swish of his tail) to the bold, the truant51, the cheeky, or the imprudent; while his unnatural52 spouse53, well satisfied with her own part in having merely brought the helpless eggs into this world of sorrow, goes off on her own account in the giddy whirl of society, forgetful of the sacred claims of her wriggling54 offspring upon a mother's heart.
In the pipe-fish family, too, the ardent evolutionist can trace a whole series of instructive and illustrative gradations in the development of this instinct and the corresponding pouch-like structure among the male fish. With the least highly-evolved types, like the long-nosed pipe-fish of the English Channel, and many allied55 forms from European seas, there is no pouch at all, but the father of the family carries the eggs about with him, glued firmly on to the service of his abdomen56 by a natural mucus. In a somewhat more advanced tropical kind, the ridges57 of the abdomen are slightly dilated58, so as to form an open groove59, which loosely holds the eggs, though its edges do not meet in the middle as in the great pipe-fish. Then come yet other more progressive forms, like the great pipe-fish himself, where the folds meet so as to produce a complete sac, which opens at maturity60, to let out its little inmates61. And finally, in the common Mediterranean62 sea-horses, which you can pick up by dozens on the Lido at Venice, and a specimen63 of which exists in the dried form in every domestic museum, the pouch is permanently64 closed by coalescence65 of the edges, leaving a narrow opening in front, through which the small hippocampi creep out one by one as soon as they consider themselves capable of buffeting66 the waves of the Adriatic.
Fish that take much care of their offspring naturally don't need to produce eggs in the same reckless abundance as those dissipated kinds that leave their spawn exposed on the bare sandy bottom, at the mercy of every comer who chooses to take a bite at it. They can afford to lay a smaller number, and to make each individual egg much larger and richer in proportion than their rivals. This plan, of course, enables the young to begin life far better provided with muscles and fins67 than the tiny little fry which come out of the eggs of the improvident68 species. For example, the cod69-fish lays nine million odd eggs; but anybody who has ever eaten fried cod's-roe must needs have noticed that each individual ovum was so very small as to be almost indistinguishable to the naked eye. Thousands of these infinitesimal specks70 are devoured71 before they hatch out by predaceous fish; thousands more of the young fry are swallowed alive during their helpless infancy72 by the enemies of their species. Imagine the very fractional amount of parental affection which each of the nine million must needs put up with! On the other hand, there is a paternally-minded group of cat-fish known as the genus Arius, of Ceylon, Australia, and other tropical parts, the males of which carry about the ova loose in their mouths, or rather in an enlargement of the pharynx, somewhat resembling the pelican's pouch; and the spouses73 of these very devoted sires lay accordingly only very few ova, all told, but each almost as big as a hedge-sparrow's egg—a wonderful contrast to the tiny mites74 of the cod-fish. To put it briefly75, the greater the amount of protection afforded the eggs, the smaller the number and the larger the size. And conversely, the larger the size of the egg to start with, the better fitted to begin the battle of life is the young fish when first turned out on a cold world upon his own resources.
This is a general law, indeed, that runs through all nature, from London slums to the deep sea. Wasteful76 species produce many young, and take but little care of them when once produced. Economical species produce very few young, but start each individual well-equipped for its place in life and look after them closely till they can take care of themselves in the struggle for existence. And on the average, however many or however few the offspring to start with, just enough attain43 maturity in the long run to replace their parents in the next generation. Were it otherwise, the sea would soon become one solid mass of herring, cod, and mackerel.
These cat-fish, however, are not the only good fathers that carry their young (like woodcock) in their own mouths. A freshwater species of the Sea of Galilee, Chromis Andre? by name (dedicated by science to the memory of that fisherman apostle, St. Andrew, who must often have netted them), has the same habit of hatching out its young in its own gullet: and here again it is the male fish upon whom this apparently77 maternal78 duty devolves, just as it is the male cassowary that sits upon the eggs of his unnatural mate, and the male emu that tends the nest, while the hen bird looks on superciliously79 and contents herself with exercising a general friendly supervision80 of the nursery department. I may add parenthetically that in most fish families the eggs are fertilised after they have been laid, instead of before, which no doubt accounts for the seeming anomaly.
Still, good mothers too may be found among fish, though far from frequently. One of the Guiana catfishes, known as Aspredo, very much resembles her countrywoman the Surinam toad81 in her nursery arrangements. Of course you know the Surinam toad—whom not to know argues yourself unknown—that curious creature that carries her eggs in little pits on her back, where the young hatch out and pass through their tadpole82 stage in a slimy fluid, emerging at last from the cells of this living honeycomb only when they have attained the full amphibian83 honours of four-legged maturity. Well, Aspredo among cat-fish manages her brood in much the same fashion; only she carries her eggs beneath her body instead of on her back like her amphibious rival. When spawning84 time approaches, and Aspredo's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love, the lower side of her trunk begins to assume, by anticipation85, a soft and spongy texture86, honeycombed with pits, between which are arranged little spiky87 protuberances. After laying her eggs, the mother lies flat upon them on the river bottom, and presses them into the spongy skin, where they remain safely attached until they hatch out and begin to manage for themselves in life. It is curious that the only two creatures on earth which have hit out independently this original mode of providing for their offspring should both be citizens of Guiana, where the rivers and marshes88 must probably harbour some special danger to be thus avoided, not found in equal intensity89 in other fresh waters.
A prettily90 marked fish of the Indian Ocean, allied, though not very closely, to the pipe fishes, has also the distinction of handing over the young to the care of the mother instead of the father. Its name is Solenostoma (I regret that no more popular title exists), and it has a pouch, formed in this case by a pair of long broad fins, within which the eggs are attached by interlacing threads that push out from the body. Probably in this instance nutriment is actually provided through these threads for the use of the embryo37, in which case we must regard the mechanism91 as very closely analogous92 indeed to that which obtains among mammals.
Some few fish, indeed, are truly viviparous; among them certain blennies and carps, in which the eggs hatch out entirely93 within the body of the mother. One of the most interesting of these divergent types is the common Californian and Mexican silver-fish, an inhabitant of the bays and inlets of sub-tropical America. Its chief peculiarity94 and title to fame lies in the extreme bigness of its young at birth. The full-grown fish runs to about ten inches in length, fisherman's scale, while the fry measure as much as three inches apiece; so that they lie, as Professor Seeley somewhat forcibly expresses it, 'packed in the body of the parent as close as herrings in a barrel.' This strange habit of retaining the eggs till after they have hatched out is not peculiar95 to fish among egg-laying animals, for the common little brown English lizard97 is similarly viviparous, though most of its relatives elsewhere deposit their eggs to be hatched by the heat of the sun in earth or sandbanks.
Mr. Hannibal Chollop, if I recollect98 aright, once shot an imprudent stranger for remarking in print that the ancient Athenians, that inferior race, had got ahead in their time of the modern Loco-foco ticket. But several kinds of fish have undoubtedly99 got ahead in this respect of the common reptilian100 ticket; for instead of leaving about their eggs anywhere on the loose to take care of themselves, they build a regular nest, like birds, and sit upon their eggs till the fry emerge from them. All the sticklebacks, for instance, are confirmed nest-builders: but here once more it is the male, not the female, who weaves the materials together and takes care of the eggs during their period of incubation. The receptacle itself is made of fibres of water-weeds or stalks of grass, and is open at both ends to let a current pass through. As soon as the lordly little polygamist has built it, he coaxes102 and allures103 his chosen mates into the entrance, one by one, to lay their eggs; and then when the nest is full, he mounts guard over them bravely, fanning them with his fins, and so keeping up a continual supply of oxygen which is necessary for the proper development of the embryo within. It takes a month's sitting before the young hatch out, and even after they appear, this excellent father (little Turk though he be, and savage104 warrior105 for the stocking of his harem) goes out attended by all his brood whenever he sallies forth106 for a morning constitutional in search of caddis-worms, which shows that there may be more good than we imagine, after all, in the domestic institutions even of people who don't agree with us.
The bullheads or miller's thumbs, those quaint107 big-headed beasts which divide with the sticklebacks the polite attentions of ingenious British youth, are also nest-builders, and the male fish are said to anxiously watch and protect their offspring during their undisciplined nonage. Equally domestic are the habits of those queer shapeless creatures, the marine108 lump-suckers, which fasten themselves on to rocks, like limpets, by their strange sucking disks, and defy all the efforts of enemy or fishermen to dislodge them by main force from their well-chosen position. The pretty little tropical walking-fish of the filuroid tribe—those fish out of water—carry the nest-making instinct a point further, for they go ashore109 boldly at the beginning of the rainy season in their native woods, and scoop110 out a hole in the beach as a place of safety, in which they make regular nests of leaves and other terrestrial materials to hold their eggs. Then father and mother take turns-about at looking after the hatching, and defend the spawn with great zeal111 and courage against all intruders.
I regret to say, however, there are other unprincipled fish which display their affection and care for their young in far more questionable112 and unpleasant manners. For instance, there is that uncanny creature that inserts its parasitic113 fry as a tiny egg inside the unsuspecting shells of mussels and cockles. Our fishermen are only too well acquainted, again, with one unpleasant marine lamprey, the hag or borer, so called because it lives parasitically114 upon other fishes, whose bodies it enters, and then slowly eats them up from within outward, till nothing at all is left of them but skin, scales, and skeleton. They are repulsive115 eel96-shaped creatures, blind, soft, and slimy; their mouth consists of a hideous116 rasping sucker; and they pour out from the glands117 on their sides a copious118 mucus, which makes them as disagreeable to handle as they are unsightly to look at. Mackerel and cod are the hag's principal victims; but often the fisherman draws up a hag-eaten haddock on the end of his line, of which not a wrack119 remains120 but the hollow shell or bare outer simulacrum. As many as twenty of these disgusting parasites121 have sometimes been found within the body of a single cod-fish.
Yet see how carefully nature provides nevertheless for the due reproduction of even her most loathsome123 and revolting creations. The hag not only lays a small number of comparatively large and well-stored eggs, but also arranges for their success in life by supplying each with a bundle of threads at either end, every such thread terminating at last in a triple hook, like those with which we are so familiar in the case of adhesive124 fruits and seeds, like burrs or cleavers125. By means of these barbed processes, the eggs attach themselves to living fishes; and the young borer, as soon as he emerges from his horny covering, makes his way at once into the body of his unconscious host, whom he proceeds by slow degrees to devour alive with relentless126 industry, from the intestines127 outward. This beautiful provision of nature enables the infant hag to start in life at once in very snug128 quarters upon a ready-made fish preserve. I understand, however, that cod-fish philosophers, actuated by purely129 personal and selfish conceptions of utility, refuse to admit the beauty or beneficence of this most satisfactory arrangement for the borer species.
Probably the best known of all fishes' eggs, however (with the solitary130 exception of the sturgeon's, commonly observed between brown bread and butter, under the name of caviare), are the queer leathery purse-shaped ova of the sharks, rays, skates, and dog-fishes. Everybody has picked them up on the seashore, where children know them as devil's purses and devil's wheelbarrows. Most of these queer eggs are oblong and quadrangular, with the four corners produced into a sort of handles or streamers, often ending in long tendrils, and useful for attaching them to corallines or seaweeds on the bed of the ocean. But it is worth noticing that in colour the egg-cases closely resemble the common wrack to which they are oftenest fastened; and as they wave up and down in the water with the dark mass around them, they must be almost indistinguishable from the wrack itself by the keenest-sighted of their enemies. This protective resemblance, coupled with the toughness and slipperiness of their leathery envelope or egg-shell, renders them almost perfectly131 secure from all evil-minded intruders. As a consequence, the dog-fish lay but very few eggs each season, and those few, large and well provided with nutriment for their spotted132 offspring. It is these purses, and those of the thornback and the edible133 skate, that we oftenest pick up on the English coast. The larger oceanic sharks are mostly viviparous.
In some few cases, indeed, among the shark and ray family, the mechanism for protection goes a step or two further than in these simple kinds. That well-known frequenter of Australian harbours, the Port Jackson shark, lays a pear-shaped egg, with a sort of spiral staircase of leathery ridges winding134 round it outside, Chinese pagoda135 wise, so that even if you bite it (I speak in the person of a predaceous fish) it eludes136 your teeth, and goes dodging137 off screw-fashion into the water beyond. There's no getting at this evasive body anywhere; when you think you have it, it wriggles138 away sideways, and refuses to give any hold for jaws140 or palate. In fact, a more slippery or guileful141 egg was never yet devised by nature's unconscious ingenuity142. Then, again, the Antarctic chim?ra (so called from its very unprepossessing personal appearance) relies rather upon pure deception143 than upon mechanical means for the security of its eggs. The shell or case in this instance is prolonged at the edge into a kind of broad wing on either side, so that it exactly resembles one of the large flat leaves of the Antarctic fucus in whose midst it lurks144. It forms the high-water mark, I fancy, of protective resemblance amongst eggs, for not only is the margin39 leaf-like in shape, but it is even gracefully145 waved and fringed with floating hairs, as is the fashion with the expanded fronds146 of so many among the gigantic far-southern sea-weeds.
A most curious and interesting set of phenomena147 are those which often occur when a group of fishes, once marine, take by practice to inhabiting freshwater rivers; or, vice-versa, when a freshwater kind, moved by an aspiration148 for more expansive surroundings, takes up its residence in the sea as a naturalised marine. Whenever such a change of address happens, it usually follows that the young fry cannot stand the conditions of the new home to which their ancestors were unaccustomed—we all know the ingrained conservatism of children—and so the parents are obliged once a year to undertake a pilgrimage to their original dwelling-place for the breeding season.
Extreme cases of terrestrial animals, once aquatic149 in habits, throw a flood of lurid150 light (as the newspapers say) upon the reason why this should be so. For example, frogs and toads151 develop from tadpoles152, which in all essentials are true gill-breathing fish. It is, therefore, obvious that they cannot lay their eggs on dry land, where the tadpoles would be unable to find anything to breathe; so that even the driest and most tree-haunting toads must needs repair to the water once a year to deposit their spawn in its native surroundings. Once more, crabs153 pass their earlier larval stages as free-swimming crustaceans155, somewhat shrimp-like in appearance, and as agile156 as fleas157: it is only by gradual metamorphosis that they acquire their legs and claws and heavy pedestrian habits. Now there are certain kinds of crab154, like the West Indian land-crabs (those dainty morsels158 whose image every epicure159 who has visited the Antilles still enshrines with regret in a warm corner of his heart), which have taken in adult life to walking bodily on shore, and visiting the summits of the highest mountains, like the fish of Deucalion's deluge160 in Horace. But once a year, as the land-crabs bask161 in the sun on St. Catherine's Peak or the Fern Walk, a strange instinctive162 longing163 comes over them automatically to return for a while to their native element; and, obedient to that inner monitor of their race, down they march in thousands, velut agmine facto, to lay their eggs at their leisure in Port Royal harbour. On the way, the negroes catch them, all full of rich coral, waiting to be spawned164; and Chloe or Dinah, serves them up hot, with breadcrumbs, in their own red shells, neatly165 nestling between the folds of a nice white napkin. The rest run away, and deposit their eggs in the sea, where the young hatch out, and pass their larval stage once more as free and active little swimming crustaceans.
Well, crabs, I need hardly explain in this age of enlightenment, are not fish; but their actions help to throw a side-light on the migratory166 instinct in salmon167, eels168, and so many other true fish which have changed with time their aboriginal169 habits. The salmon himself, for instance, is by descent a trout170, and in the parr stage he is even now almost indistinguishable from many kinds of river-trout that never migrate seaward at all. But at some remote period, the ancestors of the true salmon took to going down to the great deep in search of food, and being large and active fish, found much more to eat in the salt water than ever they had discovered in their native streams. So they settled permanently in their new home, as far as their own lives went at least; though they found the tender young could not stand the brine that did no harm to the tougher constitutions of the elders. No doubt the change was made gradually, a bit at a time, through the brackish171 water, the species getting further and further seaward down bays and estuaries172 with successive generations, but always returning to spawn in its native river, as all well-behaved salmon do to the present moment. At last, the habit hardened into an organic instinct, and nowadays the young salmon hatch out like their fathers as parr in fresh water, then go to the sea in the grilse stage and grow enormously, and finally return as full-grown salmon to spawn and breed in their particular birthplace.
Exactly the opposite fate has happened to the eels. The salmonoids as a family are freshwater fish, and by far the greater number of kinds—trout, char23, whitefish, grayling, pollan, vendace, gwyniad, and so forth—are inhabitants of lakes, steams, ponds, and rivers, only a very small number having taken permanently or temporarily to a marine residence. But the eels, as a family, are a saltwater group, most of their allies, like the congers and mur?nas, being exclusively confined to the sea, and only a very small number of aberrant173 types having ever taken to invading inland waters. If the life-history of the salmon, however, has given rise to as much controversy174 as the Mar34 peerage, the life-history of the eel is a complete mystery. To begin with, nobody has ever so much as distinguished175 between male and female eels; except microscopically176, eels have never been seen in the act of spawning, nor observed anywhere with mature eggs. The ova themselves are wholly unknown: the mode of their production is a dead secret. All we know is this: that eels never reproduce in fresh water; that a certain number of adults descend177 the rivers to the sea, irregularly, during the winter months; and that some of these must presumably spawn with the utmost circumspection178 in brackish water or in the deep sea, for in the course of the summer myriads179 of young eels, commonly called grigs, and proverbial for their merriment, ascend180 the rivers in enormous bodies, and enter every smaller or larger tributary181.
If we know little about the paternity and maternity182 of eels, we know a great deal about their childhood and youth, or, to speak more eelishly, their grigginess and elverhood. The young grigs, when they do make their appearance, leave us in no doubt at all about their presence or their reality. They wriggle139 up weirs183, walls, and floodgates; they force there way bodily through chinks and apertures184; they find out every drain, pipe, or conduit in a given plane rectilinear figure; and when all other spots have been fully122 occupied, they take to dry land, like veritable snakes, and cut straight across country for the nearest lake, pond, or ornamental185 waters.
These swarms186 or migrations187 are known to farmers as eel-fairs; but the word ought more properly to be written eel-fares, as the eels then fare or travel up the streams to their permanent quarters. A great many eels, however, never migrate seaward at all, and never seem to attain to years of sexual maturity. They merely bury themselves under stones in winter, and live and die as celibates188 in their inland retreats. So very terrestrial do they become, indeed, that eels have been taken with rats or field-mice undigested in their stomachs.
The sturgeon is another more or less migratory fish, originally (like the salmon) of freshwater habits, but now partially189 marine, which ascends190 its parent stream for spawning during the summer season. Incredible quantities are caught for caviare in the great Russian rivers. At one point on the Volga, a hundred thousand people collect in spring for the fishery, and work by relays, day and night continuously, as long as the sturgeons are going up stream. On some of the tributaries191, when fishing is intermitted for a single day, the sturgeons have been known to completely fill a river 360 feet wide, so that the backs of the uppermost fish were pushed out of the water. (I take this statement, not from the 'Arabian Nights,' as the scoffer192 might imagine, but from that most respectable authority, Professor Seeley.) Still, in spite of the enormous quantity killed, there is no danger of any falling off in the supply for the future, for every fish lays from two to three million eggs, each of which, as caviare eaters well know, is quite big enough to be distinctly seen with the naked eye in the finished product. The best caviare is simply bottled exactly as found, with the addition merely of a little salt. No man of taste can pretend to like the nasty sun-dried sort, in which the individual eggs are reduced to a kind of black pulp193, and pressed hard with the feet into doubtful barrels.
In conclusion, let me add one word of warning as to certain popular errors about the young fry of sundry well-known species. Nothing is more common than to hear it asserted that sprats are only immature194 herring. This is a complete mistake. Believe it not. Sprats are a very distinct species of the herring genus, and they never grow much bigger than when they appear, brochés, at table. The largest adult sprat measures only six inches, while full-grown herring may attain as much as fifteen. Moreover, herring have teeth on the palate, always wanting in sprats, by which means the species may be readily distinguished at all ages. When in doubt, therefore, do not play trumps195, but examine the palate. On the other hand, whitebait, long supposed to be a distinct species, has now been proved by Dr. Günther, the greatest of ichthyologists, to consist chiefly of the fry or young of herring. To complete our discomfiture196, the same eminent197 authority has also shown that the pilchard and the sardine198, which we thought so unlike, are one and the same fish, called by different names according as he is caught off the Cornish coast or in Breton, Portuguese199, or Mediterranean waters. Such aliases200 are by no means uncommon201 among his class. To say the plain truth, fish are the most variable and ill-defined of animals; they differ so much in different habitats, so many hybrids202 occur between them, and varieties merge101 so readily by imperceptible stages into one another, that only an expert can decide in doubtful cases—and every expert carefully reverses the last man's opinion. Let us at least be thankful that whitebait by any other name would eat as nice; that science has not a single whisper to breathe against their connection with lemon; and that whether they are really the young of Clupea harengus or not, the supply at Billingsgate shows no symptom of falling short of the demand.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
publicity
|
|
| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
shun
|
|
| vt.避开，回避，避免 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
wiles
|
|
| n.（旨在欺骗或吸引人的）诡计，花招；欺骗，欺诈( wile的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
delicacy
|
|
| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
reticence
|
|
| n.沉默，含蓄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
parental
|
|
| adj.父母的；父的；母的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
devour
|
|
| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
ardent
|
|
| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
naturalist
|
|
| n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
casually
|
|
| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
aquariums
|
|
| n.养鱼缸，水族馆( aquarium的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
considerably
|
|
| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
restrictions
|
|
| 约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
obstinately
|
|
| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
hereditary
|
|
| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
crook
|
|
| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
specially
|
|
| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
naturalists
|
|
| n.博物学家( naturalist的名词复数 )；（文学艺术的）自然主义者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
sundry
|
|
| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
varied
|
|
| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
ethical
|
|
| adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
char
|
|
| v.烧焦；使...燃烧成焦炭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
originality
|
|
| n.创造力，独创性；新颖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
prone
|
|
| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
dissent
|
|
| n./v.不同意，持异议 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
Buddhism
|
|
| n.佛教（教义） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
philosophically
|
|
| adv.哲学上；富有哲理性地；贤明地；冷静地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
virtue
|
|
| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
devoted
|
|
| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
pouch
|
|
| n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
beset
|
|
| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
spawn
|
|
| n.卵，产物，后代，结果；vt.产卵，种菌丝于，产生，造成；vi.产卵，大量生产 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
mar
|
|
| vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
membranous
|
|
| adj.膜的，膜状的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
embryonic
|
|
| adj.胚胎的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
embryo
|
|
| n.胚胎，萌芽的事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
margins
|
|
| 边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
margin
|
|
| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
exudation
|
|
| n.渗出，渗出物，分泌；溢泌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
marsupial
|
|
| adj.有袋的，袋状的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
cubs
|
|
| n.幼小的兽，不懂规矩的年轻人( cub的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
attain
|
|
| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
attained
|
|
| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
candidly
|
|
| adv.坦率地，直率而诚恳地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
ostrich
|
|
| n.鸵鸟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
bestow
|
|
| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
deserted
|
|
| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
progeny
|
|
| n.后代，子孙；结果 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
jaw
|
|
| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
truant
|
|
| n.懒惰鬼，旷课者；adj.偷懒的，旷课的，游荡的；v.偷懒，旷课 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
unnatural
|
|
| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
spouse
|
|
| n.配偶(指夫或妻) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
wriggling
|
|
| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）；蠕蠕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
allied
|
|
| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
abdomen
|
|
| n.腹，下腹(胸部到腿部的部分) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
ridges
|
|
| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
dilated
|
|
| adj.加宽的，扩大的v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
groove
|
|
| n.沟，槽；凹线，（刻出的）线条，习惯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
maturity
|
|
| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
inmates
|
|
| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
Mediterranean
|
|
| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
specimen
|
|
| n.样本，标本 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
permanently
|
|
| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
coalescence
|
|
| n.合并，联合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
buffeting
|
|
| 振动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
fins
|
|
| [医]散热片；鱼鳍；飞边；鸭掌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
improvident
|
|
| adj.不顾将来的，不节俭的，无远见的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
cod
|
|
| n.鳕鱼；v.愚弄；哄骗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
specks
|
|
| n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
devoured
|
|
| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
infancy
|
|
| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
spouses
|
|
| n.配偶，夫或妻( spouse的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
mites
|
|
| n.（尤指令人怜悯的）小孩( mite的名词复数 )；一点点；一文钱；螨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
briefly
|
|
| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
wasteful
|
|
| adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
maternal
|
|
| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
superciliously
|
|
| adv.高傲地；傲慢地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
supervision
|
|
| n.监督，管理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
toad
|
|
| n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
tadpole
|
|
| n.[动]蝌蚪 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
amphibian
|
|
| n.两栖动物；水陆两用飞机和车辆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
spawning
|
|
| 产卵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
anticipation
|
|
| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
texture
|
|
| n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
spiky
|
|
| adj.长而尖的，大钉似的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
marshes
|
|
| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
intensity
|
|
| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
prettily
|
|
| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
mechanism
|
|
| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
analogous
|
|
| adj.相似的；类似的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
peculiarity
|
|
| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
eel
|
|
| n.鳗鲡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
lizard
|
|
| n.蜥蜴，壁虎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
recollect
|
|
| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
undoubtedly
|
|
| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
reptilian
|
|
| adj.（像）爬行动物的；（像）爬虫的；卑躬屈节的；卑鄙的n.两栖动物；卑劣的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
merge
|
|
| v.(使)结合，(使)合并，(使)合为一体 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
coaxes
|
|
| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的第三人称单数 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
allures
|
|
| 诱引，吸引( allure的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
savage
|
|
| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
warrior
|
|
| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
quaint
|
|
| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
marine
|
|
| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
ashore
|
|
| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
scoop
|
|
| n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
zeal
|
|
| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
questionable
|
|
| adj.可疑的，有问题的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
parasitic
|
|
| adj.寄生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
parasitically
|
|
| adv.寄生地，由寄生虫引起地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
115
repulsive
|
|
| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
hideous
|
|
| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
glands
|
|
| n.腺( gland的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
copious
|
|
| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
wrack
|
|
| v.折磨；n.海草 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
remains
|
|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
parasites
|
|
| 寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
loathsome
|
|
| adj.讨厌的，令人厌恶的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
adhesive
|
|
| n.粘合剂；adj.可粘着的，粘性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
cleavers
|
|
| n.猪殃殃（其茎、实均有钩刺）；砍肉刀，剁肉刀( cleaver的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
relentless
|
|
| adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
intestines
|
|
| n.肠( intestine的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
snug
|
|
| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
purely
|
|
| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
solitary
|
|
| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
spotted
|
|
| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
edible
|
|
| n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
winding
|
|
| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
pagoda
|
|
| n.宝塔（尤指印度和远东的多层宝塔），（印度教或佛教的）塔式庙宇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
eludes
|
|
| v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的第三人称单数 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
dodging
|
|
| n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
wriggles
|
|
| n.蠕动，扭动( wriggle的名词复数 )v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的第三人称单数 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
wriggle
|
|
| v./n.蠕动，扭动；蜿蜒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
jaws
|
|
| n.口部；嘴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
guileful
|
|
| adj.狡诈的，诡计多端的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
ingenuity
|
|
| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
deception
|
|
| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
lurks
|
|
| n.潜在，潜伏；（lurk的复数形式）vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的第三人称单数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
gracefully
|
|
| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
fronds
|
|
| n.蕨类或棕榈类植物的叶子( frond的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
phenomena
|
|
| n.现象 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
aspiration
|
|
| n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
aquatic
|
|
| adj.水生的，水栖的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
lurid
|
|
| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
toads
|
|
| n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆( toad的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
tadpoles
|
|
| n.蝌蚪( tadpole的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
153
crabs
|
|
| n.蟹( crab的名词复数 )；阴虱寄生病；蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
154
crab
|
|
| n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
155
crustaceans
|
|
| n.甲壳纲动物（如蟹、龙虾）( crustacean的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
156
agile
|
|
| adj.敏捷的，灵活的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
157
fleas
|
|
| n.跳蚤( flea的名词复数 )；爱财如命；没好气地（拒绝某人的要求） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
158
morsels
|
|
| n.一口( morsel的名词复数 )；（尤指食物）小块，碎屑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
159
epicure
|
|
| n.行家，美食家 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
160
deluge
|
|
| n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
161
bask
|
|
| vt.取暖，晒太阳，沐浴于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
162
instinctive
|
|
| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
163
longing
|
|
| n.（for）渴望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
164
spawned
|
|
| （鱼、蛙等）大量产（卵）( spawn的过去式和过去分词 )； 大量生产 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
165
neatly
|
|
| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
166
migratory
|
|
| n.候鸟，迁移 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
167
salmon
|
|
| n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
168
eels
|
|
| abbr. 电子发射器定位系统（=electronic emitter location system） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
169
aboriginal
|
|
| adj.（指动植物）土生的，原产地的，土著的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
170
trout
|
|
| n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
171
brackish
|
|
| adj.混有盐的；咸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
172
estuaries
|
|
| （江河入海的）河口，河口湾( estuary的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
173
aberrant
|
|
| adj.畸变的，异常的，脱离常轨的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
174
controversy
|
|
| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
175
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
176
microscopically
|
|
| 显微镜下 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
177
descend
|
|
| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
178
circumspection
|
|
| n.细心，慎重 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
179
myriads
|
|
| n.无数，极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
180
ascend
|
|
| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
181
tributary
|
|
| n.支流；纳贡国；adj.附庸的；辅助的；支流的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
182
maternity
|
|
| n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
183
weirs
|
|
| n.堰，鱼梁（指拦截游鱼的枝条篱）( weir的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
184
apertures
|
|
| n.孔( aperture的名词复数 )；隙缝；（照相机的）光圈；孔径 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
185
ornamental
|
|
| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
186
swarms
|
|
| 蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
187
migrations
|
|
| n.迁移，移居( migration的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
188
celibates
|
|
| n.独身者( celibate的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
189
partially
|
|
| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
190
ascends
|
|
| v.上升，攀登( ascend的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
191
tributaries
|
|
| n. 支流 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
192
scoffer
|
|
| 嘲笑者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
193
pulp
|
|
| n.果肉，纸浆；v.化成纸浆，除去...果肉，制成纸浆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
194
immature
|
|
| adj.未成熟的，发育未全的，未充分发展的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
195
trumps
|
|
| abbr.trumpets 喇叭；小号；喇叭形状的东西；喇叭筒v.（牌戏）出王牌赢（一牌或一墩）( trump的过去式 )；吹号公告，吹号庆祝；吹喇叭；捏造 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
196
discomfiture
|
|
| n.崩溃；大败；挫败；困惑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
197
eminent
|
|
| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
198
sardine
|
|
| n.[C]沙丁鱼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
199
Portuguese
|
|
| n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
200
aliases
|
|
| n.别名，化名( alias的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
201
uncommon
|
|
| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
202
hybrids
|
|
| n.杂交生成的生物体( hybrid的名词复数 )；杂交植物（或动物）；杂种；（不同事物的）混合物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |