OPHIOCEPHALIDE, a family of fishes, com prising 25 species of Ophiocephalus and one of Channa. The walking or snake-headed fishes, the Ophiocephalidaz of India, and other amphibious genera, are perhaps the best known of monoga mous fishes ; some of them reside in ponds, others prefer rivers, where they take up their residence in deserted crab holes, which they find in the banks. The pond species delight in lying at the grassy margins, where the water is not deep enough to cover them ; and here they are able to respire atmospheric air direct. The striped walk ing fish constructs a nest with its tail among the vegetation, and bites off the ends of the water weeds ; here the ova are deposited, the male keeping guard ; but should he be killed or cap tured, the, vacant post is filled by his' partner. The hissar, Callichthys, of S. America, is likewise monogamous, constructing nests, which it also defends.
O. amphibeus occurs in the fresh waters of Burma, but the natives regard them with super stitious awe, and do not eat them. They have a legend that they were formerly men, changed into fish for their sins ; and the Pwo Karen of Tavoy say that if people eat them they will be transformed into lions. Frogs do some mischief among the fry,—Hylorana Malabarica, Hylorana florescens, Rana cyanophlyctis (Schn.), and an unnamed species of Polypedates,—but they have themselves enough of enemies. In the water, the murrel, a species of Ophiocephalus, feeds almost entirely upon them, generally lying close under the banks for this purpose ; and on land, mon gooses, snakes, kites, crows, and paddy - birds assist in suppressing them, while water - snakes follow them in both elements. The most trouble
some is the common brown frog, Rana cyano phlyctis.
Ophiocephalus striatus, Bloch.
Murrel, . . . ENG. I Karupu veraul, . Tem.
This, along with other species of murrel, is found on the Neilgherry Hills. Fish travel, not eels alone, which in all countries can move rapidly over moist land. Theophrastus (De Piscibus), the contemporary of Aristotle, mentions fishes found in the Euphrates, which in the dry seasons leave the vacant channels and crawl over the ground in search of water, moving along by fins and tail. The Ophio cephalus amphibens of Burma travels over land. The O. striatus, which occurs in the Indian Penin sula, attains a length of upwards of 3 feet; O. gachua, to 1 foot long ; and Dr. Day discovered that they breathe air direct from the atmosphere. Hartwig mentions that in several fish the gills communicate with' a cellular labyrinth containing water, which keeps the gills moist ; by this means the hissar of Guiana, the frog-fish of Ceylon, and the Anabas scandens, a climbing perch of India, are able to remain out of the water. The hissar throws itself forward by springs of its tail, and can move in that way nearly as fast as a man can leisurely walk. The pectoral fins of the frog-fish, supported by the bones of its carpus, perform the office of feet. The climbing perch moves itself up trees by means of its ventral fins.
Ophiocephalus vagus, as the waters retire, burrow into the soft mud. A species of Ophich thys, and Osphromenus olfax of Batavia, also travel.—Hartwig.