Science: Fish Show

Manhattanites went last week to a fish show, which is quieter than a dog show, prettier than a horse show. At a fish show, small creatures with few desires swim around in their tanks, staring out with gulps of incredulity at the pallid, blurred faces of monsters moving awkwardly in another element.

Last week’s show was under the auspices of the Aquarium Society, at the American Museum of Natural History.

Twelve tanks contained small Betta splendens, a velvety black-and-bluish fish from Siam, with a round tail and carmine iridescences. A mirror held in front of three-inch Betta splendens soon excites him to the violent pugnacity for which he is world-famed. Sometimes, in a fit of rage, he destroys his own mate.

The darkest exhibit was Mol-lienisia slenops from Louisiana, a two-inch blob of midnight. The brighest was Platypoecilus rubra from the West Indies, deep-burning vermilion and red gold.

Exhibitors from Florida, Louisiana and Brooklyn won prizes from their Manhattan rivals.