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Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Briggs, Mark, 1969- author.

Title: Journalism next : a practical guide to digital reporting and

publishing / Mark Briggs ; foreword by John Clark.

Description: Fourth edition. | Los Angeles : SAGE/CQ Press,

2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019010634 | ISBN 978-1-5443-0944-6

(paperback : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Online journalism. | Citizen journalism. |

Journalism—Technological innovations.

Classification: LCC PN4833 .B75 2019 | DDC 070.4—dc23 LC

record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019010634

7
Acquisitions Editor: Lily Norton

Editorial Assistant: Sarah Wilson

Production Editor: Rebecca Lee

Copy Editor: Ashley Horne

Typesetter: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd.

Proofreader: Dennis Webb

Indexer: Jean Casalegno

Cover Designer: Scott Van Atta

Marketing Manager: Victoria Velasquez

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

8
9
Brief Contents
1. Foreword
2. Preface
3. Introduction: Journalism Is About People, Not
Technology
4. Unit One: Basics
1. 1 Digital Lives, Digital Journalism
2. 2 The Power of Publishing: How Blogging
Changed Publishing and Journalism
Forever
3. 3 Crowd-Powered Collaboration
4. 4 Going Mobile
5. Unit Two: Multimedia
1. 5 Telling Stories With Video
2. 6 Visual Storytelling With Photographs
3. 7 Making Audio Journalism Visible
6. Unit Three: Editing and Decision-Making
1. 8 Data-Driven Journalism and Digitizing
Your Life
2. 9 Building a Digital Audience for News
7. Appendix: Suggested Web Resources
8. Index
9. About the Author

10
11
Detailed Contents
Foreword
Preface
Introduction: Journalism Is About People, Not
Technology
Unit One: Basics
1 Digital Lives, Digital Journalism
Digital Information
What Is It? How the Internet works
▸ How Web servers work
▸ How Web browsers work
▸▸ Your browser’s cache
▸▸ Plug-ins and extensions
What Is It? Syndicated content with RSS
What’s Next? Set up an RSS reader and
subscribe to feeds
▸ Select a reader
▸ Determine what is best to
subscribe to
▸ Subscribe to news alerts and
searches
What Is It? Ftp (file transfer protocol)
What’s Next? Set up an FTP Program
Web Design Basics
What Is It? How Web pages work
What’s Next? Build an Html page quickly
▸ Images and HTML
▸ HTML editors
▸ HTML tutorials

12
 What Is It? CSS (cascading style
sheets)
What’s Next? Add CSS to HTML
▸ CSS essentials
▸ CSS tutorials
What Is It? XML (extensible markup
language)
What Is It? Content-management
systems
What’s Next? Launch a WordPress site
▸ Publishing with WordPress
▸ Customize the theme
What Is It? Mobile apps versus mobile
Web
What’s Next? Make a WordPress site for
mobile
Summary: Start to see digital
opportunities
2 The Power of Publishing: How Blogging
Changed Publishing and Journalism
Forever
What Is It? Why blogs are important
▸ Why blogs are important
▸▸ Blogs changed Web
publishing
▸▸ Blogs changed journalism
What Is It? Then came Twitter
▸ Twitter’s popularity has peaked
▸ Why is Twitter important?
▸▸ Effective medium for
breaking news

13
 What Is It? The digital firehose
▸ Crowdsourcing and building
community
▸ Marketing and building your brand
What’s Next? Make a plan, create a blog
▸ Choose a blog system
▸ Customize your blog’s appearance
What’s Next? Make a plan, start
publishing
▸ Use photos and screenshots
▸ Post early, post often
▸ Participate in the community
▸ Use RSS feeds to beat the
competition
What’s Next? Become a Pro on Twitter
▸ First the Twitter basics
▸ Build your network
▸ Search on Twitter
▸▸ Start following
▸ What to tweet?
▸▸ Go mobile
Summary: Passion and purpose
3 Crowd-Powered Collaboration
What Is It? Crowdsourcing
▸ Why crowdsourcing is important
▸▸ Thousands of contributions
What Is It? Open-source reporting
▸ Why open-source reporting is
important
▸ Link curation taps the power of the
Web

14
 What Is It? Engaged journalism
▸ Know where you stand on legal
grounds
What Is It? Managing news as a
conversation
▸ Making conversation
▸▸ Conversing through
comments
▸▸ Conversing through social
networking
What’s Next? Build and manage a
community online
▸ Make news collaborative
▸ Journalists must get involved
▸ Develop sources, find scoops
through LinkedIn
▸ Collaborate with your community
What’s Next? Keep conversations
accurate and ethical
▸ Set guidelines for participants
▸ Know your legal responsibilities
▸ Correct errors
Summary: Collaborative publishing,
social media are here to stay
4 Going Mobile
What Is It? Mobile journalism
What’s Next? Making mobile journalism
▸ Choose your story
▸ Gear up and get out: Reporting on
the go
▸▸ If you are a gearhead

15
 ▸▸ If you are a light packer
▸ Publishing options
▸▸ Mobile microblogging
▸▸ Live blogging
▸▸ Mobile video
▸▸ Mobile multimedia
▸ Mobile crowdsourcing
Summary: Mobile future
Unit Two: Multimedia
5 Telling Stories With Video
What Is It? The digital video revolution
▸ Impact of digital video
▸ versatile form of journalism
▸▸ Seeking an authentic
connection
What’s Next? Plan your video and go
▸ Use different approaches for
different projects
▸ Storyboarding unlocks potential
▸ Mix your shots
▸ Use multiple-shot sequences
What’s Next? Voice in video
▸ Learn effective video interviewing
▸ Use a stand-up, even if you do not
want to
▸ Control your story with voice-overs
What’s Next? Gear up and get out there
▸ Array of camera choices
What’s Next? Shooting good video
▸ Aim for solid, not spectacular, clips
▸ Get good audio

16
 What’s Next? Editing and post-
production
▸ Powerful software for editing
▸ Practice visual storytelling
What’s Next? Publishing video online
▸ Seek video distribution
Summary: Start small, but make sure
you start
6 Visual Storytelling With Photographs
What Is It? Digital photography
▸ Ownership, copyright and fair use
▸ Digital camera basics
▸▸ Two kinds of digital cameras
▸▸ Basic camera functions
What’s Next? Shooting better photos
with a digital camera
▸ Shooting mug shots
▸ More time leads to better photos
What’s Next? Working with digital
photographs
▸ Edit your take
▸ Manage digital photos on your
computer
▸ Edit digital photos on your
computer
▸▸ Advantages of using
Photoshop
What’s Next? Publish your photos online
▸ Publish photos on a blog
▸ Create and publish compelling
slideshows

17
 ▸▸ Building a photo gallery in
Adobe Spark
Summary: Photography is a critical tool
for journalists
7 Making Audio Journalism Visible
What Is It? Audio journalism
▸ Why audio journalism is important
▸ How news organizations use
audio
What’s Next? Get started with audio
▸ Recording interviews
▸▸ Choose your location
▸▸ Gather natural sound
▸▸ Prepare your subject
▸▸ Watch what you say
▸▸ Try delayed recording
▸▸ Mark the best spots
▸ Doing voice-overs
▸▸ Write a script
▸▸ Warm up
▸▸ Find operative words
▸▸ Keep it conversational
What’s Next? Gear up and get out there
▸ Choose a digital recorder
▸▸ Under $100
▸▸ $100-$150
▸ Smartphone apps and
SoundCloud
▸ Recording phone calls
▸ Use an external mic
▸ Use headphones

18
 ▸ Prepare before you go out
What’s Next? Editing digital audio
▸ Understand digital formats
▸ Get ready to edit
▸ Editing with Audacity
▸ Try advanced editing techniques
What’s Next? Start podcasting
▸ First thing’s first
▸ Best practices for podcasting
▸ Publishing a podcast
Summary: Audio Journalism—Part of
the next big thing
Unit Three: Editing and Decision-Making
8 Data-Driven Journalism and Digitizing
Your Life
What Is It? Your digital life
▸ Organizing your email
▸ Find the right personal productivity
tools
▸▸ Develop a strategy
▸▸ Bring order to your contacts
▸▸ Bring order to your work
What Is It? Data-driven journalism
▸ Why is data-driven journalism
important?
▸ Every story is a field of data
▸ Telling stories with data
▸▸ Helping reporters do their
jobs
▸▸ Sharing data

19
 What’s Next? Building spreadsheets,
databases
▸ Creating a spreadsheet is easy
▸ Moving from spreadsheet to
relational database
What Is It? Map mashups
▸ Map mashups tell stories, too
▸ Applications in breaking news
What’s Next? Build an interactive map
with data
▸ Go beyond location
▸ Artificial intelligence and machine
learning are changing the game
Summary: Better life, better journalism
9 Building a Digital Audience for News
What Is It? Measuring journalism
What’s Next? Track all that you publish
▸ What to track
▸ How to set benchmarks
What’s Next? Track your audience
▸ Digital tools measure digital
audience
▸ Identify key data points
What Is It? Search engine optimization
(seo)
▸ Understand search engines
▸ SEO for journalists
What’s Next? Use seo to grow your
audience
▸ Grow audience with content and
links

20
 ▸ Write effective Web headlines
▸▸ Write for readers and robots
▸▸ Make good headlines better
What’s Next? Audience engagement
drives distribution
▸ Publish and engage where the
audience lives
▸ Publishing is only the beginning
What’s Next? Connect and engage in
social media
▸ Make a direct connection
▸ Publish for people, not platforms
Summary: Track, measure, distribute,
adapt
Appendix: Suggested Web Resources
Index
About the Author

21
22
Foreword

In 1997, I was introduced to HTML by my desktop

publishing class instructor. I was studying
journalism and mass communication and enrolled
in “Desktop Publishing” to dabble in page layouts.
My interest in journalism carried over from high
school but was primarily focused on display, design
and the little consumer interaction that was
available at the time—usually a letter to the editor
or a classmate making some comment on what
they had seen.

I had to learn HTML by trial and error. I spent

countless hours typing in Notepad and testing in
Netscape Navigator before moving my index.html
to a test server via WS-FTP to “make it live” on the
web. Creating animated gifs were not worth the
hassle—yet. And the <blink> tag, for a short time,
was appreciated. Anyone with a computer could
create a web page, but it was difficult finding and
using the nascent tools available beyond the
basics.

My instructor chuckled when asked if there was a

textbook available.

Then I took my first job at Capitol Broadcasting

Company working with web technologies and
journalism. I literally held two different jobs. I spent

23
half of my time as an online news producer for
WRAL-TV. The other half was spent as a web
programmer for WRAL’s sister company, Capitolnet
Marketing Group. The serendipity of working these
two positions gave me a perspective that I had
missed in college. If we effectively couple digital
technology with the principles of journalism, we will
provide an extraordinary service. Technology is a
driver and means for connections. Technology is
not the end result; it is a means for what we do. For
anyone involved in journalism, that is, and always
has been, an important distinction. With or without
or technical guides, we have a responsibility to use
digital tools appropriately to serve and connect with
people.

That sunk in during the 2000 election. I was in line

to vote, and several people in front of me were
discussing restaurants and options for dinner that
evening. One suggested, “Check WRAL; they post
restaurant ratings.” I was stunned. I had been
working on a small piece of software related to
those ratings that morning. I interrupted and asked
what else they get from WRAL’s website. “I’m sure
they’ll put the vote counts online all night,”
someone said. Indeed, we did. The power of
technology paired with content was immediate. By
embracing the digital environment, we had a direct
impact on our viewers. But we were writing our
own how-to manual. There was not a reference
guide to follow.

24
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
is G. noveboracensis. The habits of all the freshwater species are
very similar. The common European species (G. aculeatus) is an
active and greedy little fish, extremely destructive to the fry of other
species, and consequently injurious in ponds where these are
sought to be preserved. It is scarcely to be conceived what damage
these little fishes do, and how greatly detrimental they are to the
increase of all the fishes in general among which they live; for it is
with the utmost industry, sagacity, and greediness that they seek out
and destroy all the young fry that come their way. A small
Stickleback, kept in an aquarium, devoured, in five hours’ time,
seventy-four young dace, which were about a quarter of an inch
long, and of the thickness of a horse hair. Two days after it
swallowed sixty-two; and would, probably, have eaten as many every
day could they have been procured. The Stickleback sometimes
swarms in prodigious numbers. Pennant states that at Spalding, in
Lincolnshire, there was once in seven years amazing shoals, which
appear in the Welland, coming up the river in the form of a vast
column. The quantity may, perhaps, be conceived from the fact that
a man employed in collecting them, gained, for a considerable time,
four shillings a-day by selling them at the rate of a halfpenny a
bushel. Costa, who studied the manners of these small fishes,
relates that, on the approach of spawning time, the male builds a
nest of stalks of grass and other matters in a hollow of the bottom, a
little above three inches wide and about six inches and a half deep,
creeping over the materials on his belly, and cementing them with
the mucus that exudes from his skin. The bottom of the nest is first
laid, then the sides are raised, and lastly the top is covered over. A
small hole is left on one side for an entrance. When the erection is
complete, he seeks out a female, and conducting her, Costa says,
with many caresses, to the nest, introduces her by the door into the
chamber. In a few minutes she has laid two or three eggs, after
which she bores a hole on the opposite side of the nest to that by
which she entered, and makes her escape. The nest has now two
doors, and the eggs are exposed to the cool stream of water, which,
entering by one door flows out at the other. Next day the male goes
again in quest of a female, and sometimes brings back the same,
sometimes finds a new mate. This is repeated until the nest contains
a considerable number of eggs, and each time the male rubs his
side against the female and passes over the eggs. Next the male
watches a whole month over his treasure, defending it stoutly
against all invaders, and especially against his wives, who have a
great desire to get at the eggs. When the young are hatched and
able to do for themselves his cares cease.
The Sea-Stickleback (G. spinachia) is likewise a nest builder,
choosing for its operations especially the shallows of brackish water,
which are covered with Zostera.

Second Family—Fistulariidæ.
Fishes of greatly elongated form; the anterior bones of the skull
are much produced, and form a long tube, terminating in a narrow
mouth. Teeth small; scales none, or small. The spinous dorsal fin is
either formed by feeble isolated spines or entirely absent; the soft
dorsal and anal of moderate length, ventral fins thoracic or
abdominal, composed of five or six rays, without spine; if abdominal,
they are separate from the pubic bones, which remain attached to
the humeral arch. Branchiostegals five.
The “Flute-mouths” are also frequently called “Pipe-fishes,” a
name which they have in common with the Syngnathidæ. They are
gigantic marine Sticklebacks, living near the shore, from which they
are frequently driven into the open sea; some of the species,
therefore, have a wide geographical range. Probably all enter
brackish water. They are distributed over the whole of the tropical
and sub-tropical parts of the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific. The species
are few in number, but some of them are very common.
This family is well represented in Eocene formations; some of the
remains belonging to the existing genera, Fistularia, Aulostoma, and
Auliscops, the two former of which occur not rarely at Monte Bolca
and in the schists of Glaris. Well-preserved remains of Auliscops
have been found in the Marl-slates of the highlands of Padang in
Sumatra. Extinct genera from Monte Bolca are Urosphen, the
cylindrical body of which is terminated by a large cuneiform fin; and
Rhamphosus, which has an immense spinous ray, denticulated
behind, inserted on the nape.
Fistularia.—Body scaleless; caudal fin forked, with the two
middle rays produced into a filament; no free dorsal spines.
Three species are known, common on the shores of the Tropical
Atlantic (F. tabaccaria) and Indian Oceans (F. serrata and F.
depressa); they attain to a length of from four to six feet.
The anterior portion of the vertebral column shows the same
peculiarity as in Dactylopterus; it is a long compressed tube,
composed of four elongate vertebræ, which are perfectly
anchylosed; each of them has a pair of small foramina for blood-
vessels. The neural spines and parapophyses of this tubiform portion
are confluent into thin laminæ, the lateral of which are wing-like, and
expanded in their anterior half.
Aulostoma.—Body covered with small scales. Caudal fin
rhombic, without prolonged rays; a series of isolated feeble dorsal
spines. Teeth rudimentary.

Two species from the Tropical Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

Auliscops.—Body naked. Ventrals thoracic. Numerous spines in
front of the dorsal fin.

One species (A. spinescens) from the Pacific coast of North

America. Aulorhynchus from the same sea, and Aulichthys from
Japan, are allied genera.

Thirteenth Division—Acanthopterygii Centrisciformes.

Two dorsal fins; the spinous short, the soft and the anal of
moderate extent. Ventral fins truly abdominal, imperfectly developed.
This division consists of one family, Centriscidæ, with two genera.
The fishes belonging to it are very small, marine, and, in
consequence of their limited power of swimming, often driven out
into the open sea. They have the same structure of the mouth and
snout as the Fistulariidæ, but combine with it peculiarities of the
shape of body, of the structure of the vertical fins, and of the
relations between endo- and exo-skeleton, which render them
altogether a singular and interesting type. Amphisile has been found
in a fossil state at Monte Bolca.
Centriscus.—Body oblong or elevated, compressed, covered
with small rough scales; lateral line none; some bony strips on the
side of the back, and on the margin of the thorax and abdomen; the
former, in one species, are confluent and form a shield. Teeth none.
Two dorsal fins, the first with one of the spines very strong. Ventral
fins small, abdominal, composed of five soft rays. Four
branchiostegals.

Fig. 231.—Centriscus humerosus.

Of the four species the most generally known is C. scolopax, the
“Trumpet-fish” or “Bellows-fish,” which rarely occurs on the south
coast of England, is more common farther south, and reappears in
Tasmania. The allied C. gracilis is one of the fishes common to the
Mediterranean and Japanese Seas. The species figured, C.
humerosus, occurs on the coast of South Australia, and is very
scarce.
Amphisile.—Body elongate, strongly compressed, provided with a
dorsal cuirass, which is formed by portions of the skeleton; the
longitudinal axis of the tail is not in the same line with that of the trunk.
Scales none. Teeth none. Two dorsal fins situated on the hindmost
part of the back; ventral fins rudimentary, abdominal. Three or four
branchiostegals.
 The three species known of this genus are found in the tropical
Indo-Pacific. Their body is so thin that it has the appearance of being
artificially compressed between two sheets of paper; it is semi-
transparent, especially in the region of the air-bladder. The structure
of the vertebral column is extremely singular and unique among
Acanthopterygians. The abdominal portion is more than four times
as long as the caudal; nevertheless it is composed of only six
vertebræ, whilst the latter consists of fourteen. The abdominal
vertebræ are extremely slender, the third alone being nearly as long
as the whole caudal portion; they have a slight ridge superiorly and
inferiorly, and on each side; the whole portion lying in the uppermost
concavity of the dorsal cuirass. The caudal vertebræ are extremely
short, and the strength of their neural and hæmal spines is in
proportion to their size. The dorsal cuirass is not a dermal
production, but formed by modified parts of the endoskeleton; its
composition, the number and condition of its single parts, and, finally,
the first dorsal spine, which in A. punctulata is so singularly attached
to it, favour this opinion. The plates, which occupy the vertebral line,
would correspond to the neural spines, and the lateral plates on
which the ribs are suspended to the parapophyses. Amphisile may
be considered as a Chelonian form among fishes.

Fourteenth Division—Acanthopterygii Gobiesociformes.

No spinous dorsal; the soft and the anal short or of moderate
length, situated on the tail; ventral fins subjugular, with an adhesive
apparatus between them. Body naked.
These fishes are well characterised by their single dorsal fin, and
by their adhesive ventral apparatus, which has only an external
similarity to the organ observed in Cyclopterus and Liparis; its
structure is typically different from it. Whilst in those genera the
ventral fins occupy the centre of the disk forming its base, these fins
are here widely apart from each other, as in Callionymus, forming
only a portion of the periphery of the disk, which is completed by a
cartilaginous expansion of the coracoid bones. The following
description of its structure is taken from Sicyases sanguineus, but it
is essentially the same in all the genera.
 The whole disk is exceedingly large, subcircular, longer than
broad, its length being one-third of the whole length of the fish. The
central portion is formed merely by skin, which is separated from the
pelvic or pubic bones by several layers of muscles. The peripheric
portion is divided into an anterior and posterior part by a deep notch
behind the ventrals. The anterior peripheric portion is formed by the
four ventral rays, the membrane between them, and a broad fringe
which extends anteriorly from one ventral to the other; this fringe is a
fold of the skin, containing on each side the rudimentary ventral
spine, but no cartilage. The posterior peripheric portion is suspended
on each side from the coracoid, the upper bone of which is
exceedingly broad, becoming a free movable plate behind the
pectoral. A broad cartilage is firmly attached to it. The lower bone of
the coracoid is of a triangular form, and supports a very broad fold of
the skin, extending from one side to the other, and containing a
cartilage which runs through the whole of that fold. Five processes of
the cartilage are continued into the soft striated margin in which the
disk terminates posteriorly. The surface of the disk is coated with
thick epidermis, like the sole of the foot of higher animals. The
epidermis is divided into many polygonal plates; there are no such
plates between the roots of the ventral fins.
Not less unique is the structure of the bones which have some
relation to this external adhesive apparatus. As exemplified by
Chorismochismus dentex the coracoid is well developed, and, as
usual, composed of two pieces, the upper of which is not suspended
from the humerus, but fixed by a ligament to the hinder margin of the
carpal bones. It is a broad lamella, dilated posteriorly into the
cartilage, which is externally visible; the lower piece is narrower, and
fixed to the extremity of the pubic bone of its side. The pubic bones
are united by suture, and form together a heart-shaped disk, the
point of which is produced backwards. The anterior portion of the
disk is concave, with a bony longitudinal bridge and a feeble
transverse ridge. The disk is fixed to the humeral bones by the
convex portions of its anterior margin, whilst the convex portions of
the lateral margins serve as base for the ventral fins. The latter are
composed of one spine, which is transformed into a broad, thin, and
curved plate, hidden below the skin, and apparently of four rays; but
on closer examination we find that the hidden ray has a longitudinal
groove anteriorly, in which another thinner ray lies concealed. This
ray is quite free, and not joined to the pubic bone.
The fishes belonging to the single family of this division,
Gobiesocidæ, are strictly marine but littoral fishes. They are
scattered over the temperate zones of both hemispheres, and more
numerous than between the Tropics. All are of small or very small
size.

Fig. 232.—Gobiesox cephalus.

The adhesive disk consists of an anterior and posterior division.

In some of the genera the posterior division has no free anterior
margin, the teeth being either all conical, as in Chorisochismus
(Cape of Good Hope) and Cotylis (Red Sea and Indian Ocean); or
incisor-like in both jaws, as in Sicyases (coast of Chili and West
Indies); or incisor-like at least in the lower jaw, as in Gobiesox (West
Indies and Pacific coasts of South America). In other genera the
posterior portion of the adhesive disk has a free anterior margin.
Only one of these genera has incisor-like teeth, viz. Diplocrepis from
New Zealand. In the remaining genera, Crepidogaster (from
Tasmania and South Australia), Trachelochismus (from New Zealand
and the Fiji Islands), Lepadogaster, and Leptopterygius, the teeth
are very small and fine. The two last genera are European, and
Lepadogaster at least is common on the Southern British coasts.
The three species known as British—L. gouanii, L. candollii, and L.
bimaculatus—are prettily coloured, but subject to great variation.
 Fig. 233.—Diplocrepis puniceus.

Fifteenth Division—Acanthopterygii Channiformes.

Body elongate, covered with scales of moderate size; no spine in
any of the fins; dorsal and anal long. No superbranchial organ, only a
bony prominence on the anterior surface of the hyomandibular.
These fishes belong to the single family Ophiocephalidæ,
Freshwater-fishes characteristic of the Indian region, which,
however, have found their way into Africa, where they are
represented by one or two species. Thirty-one species are known
altogether, most of which are extremely abundant; some attain to a
length of more than two feet. Like other tropical freshwater fishes,
they are able to survive droughts, living in semi-fluid mud, or lying in
a torpid state below the hard-baked crusts of the bottom of a tank
from which every drop of water has disappeared. Respiration is
probably entirely suspended during the state of torpidity, but whilst
the mud is still soft enough to allow them to come to the surface,
they rise at intervals to take in a quantity of air, by means of which
their blood is oxygenised. This habit has been observed in some
species to continue also to the period of the year in which the fish
lives in normal water, and individuals which are kept in a basin and
prevented from coming to the surface and renewing the air for
respiratory purposes, are suffocated. The particular manner in which
the accessory branchial cavity participates in respiratory functions is
not known. It is a simple cavity, without an accessory branchial
organ, the opening of which is partly closed by a fold of the mucous
membrane.

Fig. 234.—Ophiocephalus striatus, India.

Sixteenth Division—Acanthopterygii Labyrinthibranchii.

Body compressed, oblong or elevated, with scales of moderate
size. A superbranchial organ in a cavity accessory to that of the gills.

First Family—Labyrinthici.
Dorsal and anal spines present, but in variable numbers; ventrals
thoracic. Lateral line absent, or more or less distinctly interrupted.
Gill-opening rather narrow, the gill-membranes of both sides
coalescent below the isthmus, and scaly; gills four; pseudobranchiæ
rudimentary or absent.
 Fig. 235.—Superbranchial organ of
Anabas.
Freshwater-fishes of the Cyprinoid division of the Equatorial
zone. They possess the faculty of being able to live for some time
out of the water, or in thick or hardened mud, in a still greater degree
than the fishes of the preceding family. In the accessory branchial
cavity there is lodged a laminated organ which evidently has the
function of assisting in the oxygenisation of the blood. In Anabas it is
formed by several exceedingly thin bony laminæ, similar in form to
the auricle, and concentrically situated one above the other, the
innermost being the largest. The degree in which these laminæ are
developed is dependent on age. In specimens from one inch and a
half to two inches and a half long there are only two such laminæ, a
third being indicated by a small protuberance at the central base of
the second or outer laminæ. In specimens of from three to four
inches in length the third lamina is developed, covering one-half of
the second. The edges of all the laminæ are straight, not valanced.
In specimens of from four to five inches a fourth lamina makes its
appearance in the basal centre of the third lamina. The other laminæ
continue to grow in their circumference, and their edges now
become undulated and slightly frilled. Cuvier and Valenciennes have
examined still larger specimens. The figure given by them and
reproduced here was taken from a specimen six or seven inches
long, and shows the superbranchial organ composed of six laminæ.
 The air-bladder of the majority of these fishes is very large,
extending far into the tail, and, therefore, divided behind by the
hæmal spines into two lateral portions.
The Labyrinthici are generally of small size; they are capable of
being domesticated, and some of them deserve particular attention
on account of the dazzling beauty of their colours or the flavour of
their flesh.
Anabas.—Body compressed, oblong; præorbital and orbitals
serrated. Small teeth in the jaws and on the vomer; none on the
palatines. Dorsal and anal spines numerous. Lateral line interrupted.
The “Climbing Perch” (A. scandens) is generally distributed over
the Indian Region, and well known from its faculty of moving for
some distance over land, and even up inclined surfaces. In 1797
Daldorf, in a memoir communicated to the Linnean Society of
London, mentions that in 1791 he had himself taken an Anabas in
the act of ascending a palm tree which grew near a pond. The fish
had reached the height of five feet above the water, and was going
still higher. In the effort to do this it held on to the bark of the tree by
the preopercular spines, bent its tail, and stuck in the spines of the
anal; then released its head, and, raising it, took a new hold with the
preoperculum higher up. The fish is named in the Malayan language
the “Tree Climber.” It rarely attains a length of seven inches.
Spirobranchus from the Cape, and Ctenopoma from Tropical
Africa, represent Anabas in that continent.
Polyacanthus.—Body compressed, oblong; operculum without
spines or serrature; cleft of the mouth small, more or less oblique, not
extending beyond the vertical from the orbit, and little protractile.
Small fixed teeth in the jaws, none on the palate. Dorsal and anal
spines numerous; the soft dorsal and anal, the caudal, and the
ventral, more or less elongate in mature specimens. Caudal rounded.
Lateral line interrupted or absent.
This genus is represented chiefly in the East Indian Archipelago;
seven species are known; some of them have been domesticated on
account of the beauty of their colours, and several varieties have
been produced. One of them is to be mentioned, as, under the name
of “Paradise-fish,” it has been introduced into the aquaria of Europe,
where it readily breeds. It was known already to Lacépède, and has
been mentioned since his time in all ichthyological works as
Macropus viridi-auratus. In adult males some of the rays, and
especially the caudal lobes, are much prolonged.
Osphromenus.—Body compressed, more or less elevated;
operculum without spine or serrature. Small fixed teeth in the jaws,
none on the palate. Dorsal spines in small or moderate number; anal
spines in moderate or great number; ventral fins with the outer ray
very long, filiform. Lateral line not interrupted or absent.

Fig. 236.—Osphromenus olfax.

To this genus belongs the celebrated “Gourami” (Osphromenus
olfax), reputed to be one of the best flavoured Freshwater-fishes in
the East-Indian Archipelago. Its original home is Java, Sumatra,
Borneo, and several other islands; but thence it has been
transported to, and acclimatised in, Penang, Malacca, Mauritius, and
even Cayenne. Being an almost omnivorous fish and tenacious of
life, it seems to recommend itself particularly for acclimatisation in
other tropical countries, and specimens kept in captivity become as
tame as carps. It attains the size of a large turbot. A second, but
much smaller, species of this genus, O. trichopterus, is frequently
kept in vessels on account of the exquisite beauty of its varying
iridescent metallic tints; like other fishes of this family it is very
pugnacious.
Trichogaster, a very common Bengalese fish, differs from
Osphromenus in having the ventral fins reduced to a single long
filament.
Betta.—Body compressed, oblong; operculum without spine or
serrature. Small fixed teeth in the jaws, none on the palate. Dorsal fin
short, on the middle of the back, without any pungent spine; anal fin
long. Ventral fin with five soft rays, the outer one being produced.
Lateral line interrupted or absent.
A species of this genus (B. pugnax) is, on account of its
pugnacious habits, reared by the Siamese. Cantor gives the
following account:—“When the fish is in a state of quiet, its dull
colours present nothing remarkable; but if two be brought together,
or if one sees its own image in a looking-glass, the little creature
becomes suddenly excited, the raised fins and the whole body shine
with metallic colours of dazzling beauty, while the projected gill
membrane, waving like a black frill round the throat, adds something
of grotesqueness to the general appearance. In this state it makes
repeated darts at its real or reflected antagonist. But both, when
taken out of each other’s sight, instantly become quiet. This
description was drawn up in 1840, at Singapore, by a gentleman
who had been presented with several by the King of Siam. They
were kept in glasses of water, fed with larvæ of mosquitoes, and had
thus lived for many months. The Siamese are as infatuated with the
combats of these fish as the Malays are with their cock-fights; and
stake on the issue considerable sums, and sometimes their own
persons and families. The license to exhibit fish-fights is farmed, and
brings a considerable annual revenue to the King of Siam. The
species abounds in the rivulets at the foot of the hills of Penang. The
inhabitants name it ‘Pla-kat,’ or the ‘Fighting-fish;’ but the kind kept
especially for fighting is an artificial variety cultivated for the
purpose.”
Micracanthus.—This genus represents the three last-named
genera in Africa, where it has been recently discovered in tributaries
of the river Ogooué. It seems to differ from the Indian genera chiefly
by its more elongate body, the structure of the fins being scarcely
different (D. 3/7, A. 4/23, V. 1/4).

Second Family—Luciocephalidæ.
Body elongate, covered with scales of moderate size. Lateral line
present. Teeth small. Gill-opening wide; pseudobranchiæ none. The
superbranchial organ is formed by two branchial arches, which are
dilated into a membrane. One short dorsal fin; dorsal and anal
spines none; ventrals composed of one spine and five rays. Air-
bladder none.
A small Freshwater-fish (Luciocephalus pulcher), from the East-
Indian Archipelago.

Seventeenth Division—Acanthopterygii lophotiformes.

Body riband shaped, with the vent near its extremity; a short anal
behind the vent; dorsal fin as long as the body.
Only one species is known of this division or family, Lophotes
cepedianus. It is most probably a deep-sea fish, but does not
descend to so great a depth as the Trachypteridæ, its bony and soft
parts being well coherent. It is a scarce fish, hitherto found in the
Mediterranean, off Madeira, and in the Sea of Japan; its length is
known to exceed five feet. The head is elevated into a very high
crest, and the dorsal fin commences with an exceedingly strong and
long spine on the head. Silvery, with rose-coloured fins.

Eighteenth Division—Acanthopterygii Tæniiformes.

Body riband shaped; dorsal fin as long as the body; anal absent;
caudal rudimentary, or not in the longitudinal axis of the fish.
 Fig. 237.—Trachypterus tænia.
The “Ribbon-fishes” are true deep-sea fishes, met with in all parts
of the oceans, generally found when floating dead on the surface, or
thrown ashore by the waves. Their body is like a band, specimens of
from fifteen to twenty feet long being from ten to twelve inches deep,
and about an inch or two broad at their thickest part. The eye is large
and lateral; the mouth small, armed with very feeble teeth; the head
deep and short. A high dorsal fin runs along the whole length of the
back, and is supported by extremely numerous rays; its foremost
portion, on the head, is detached from the rest of the fin, and
composed of very elongate flexible spines. The anal fin is absent.
The caudal fin (if preserved, which is rarely the case, in adult
specimens) has an extra-axial position, being directed upwards like a
fan. The ventrals are thoracic, either composed of several rays or
reduced to a single long filament. The coloration is generally silvery,
with rosy fins.
When these fishes reach the surface of the water the expansion
of the gases within their body has so loosened all parts of their
muscular and bony system, that they can be lifted out of the water
with difficulty only, and nearly always portions of the body and fins
are broken and lost. The bones contain very little bony matter, are
very porous, thin and light. At what depths Ribbon-fishes live is not
known; probably the depths vary for different species; but although
none have been yet obtained by means of the deep-sea dredge,
they must be abundant at the bottom of all oceans, as dead fishes or
fragments of them are frequently obtained. Some writers have
supposed from the great length and narrow shape of these fishes
that they have been mistaken for “Sea-serpents;” but as these
monsters of the sea are always represented by those who have had
the good fortune of meeting with them as remarkably active, it is not
likely that harmless Ribbon-fishes, which are either dying or dead,
have been the objects described as “Sea-serpents.”

Fig. 238.—Young Trachypterus.

Young Ribbon-fishes (from two to four inches) are not rarely met
with near the surface; they possess the most extraordinary
development of fin rays observed in the whole class of fishes, some
of them being several times longer than the body, and provided with
lappet-like dilatations. There is no doubt that fishes with such
delicate appendages are bred and live in depths where the water is
absolutely quiet, as a sojourn in the disturbed water of the surface
would deprive them at once of organs which must be of some utility
for their preservation.
Ribbon-fishes are divided into three genera:—
Trachypterus.—In which the ventral rays are well developed,
and composed of several more or less branched rays. Specimens of
this genus have been taken in the Mediterranean, Atlantic, at
Mauritius, and in the Eastern Pacific. The “Deal-fish” (T. arcticus) is
often met with in the North Atlantic, and specimens are generally
found after the equinoctial gales on the coasts of the Orkneys and
North Britain.
Stylophorus.—Without ventrals, and with the tail terminating in
an exceedingly long cord-like appendage. Known from one
specimen only, found at the beginning of this century between Cuba
and Martinique. It is eleven inches long, and preserved in the
Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London.
Regalecus.—Each ventral fin is reduced to a long filament,
dilated at the extremity; caudal fin rudimentary or absent. These are
the largest of all Ribbon-fishes, specimens being on record the
length of which exceeded twenty feet. They have been taken in the
Mediterranean, North and South Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and on the
coast of New Zealand. They are frequently called “Kings of the
herrings,” from the erroneous notion that they accompany the shoals
of herrings; or “Oar-fishes,” from their two ventral fins, which have a
dilatation at their extremity not unlike the blade of an oar. One or
more species (R. banksii) are sometimes found on the British coasts,
but they are very scarce, not more than sixteen captures having
been recorded between the years 1759 and 1878.

Nineteenth Division—Acanthopterygii Notacanthiformes.

Dorsal fin short, composed of short, isolated spines, without a
soft portion. Anal fin very long, anteriorly with many spines; ventrals
abdominal, with more than five soft and several unarticulated rays.
Notacanthus is the most aberrant type of Acanthopterygians. Of
the characteristics of this order the development of spines in the
vertical fins is the only one preserved in the fishes of this genus.
Their body is elongate, covered with very small scales; the snout
protrudes beyond the mouth. Eyes lateral, of moderate size;
dentition feeble. Five species are known from the Arctic Ocean,
Mediterranean, Atlantic, and Southern Pacific. They inhabit
considerable depths, probably from 100 to 400 fathoms, and during
the “Challenger” expedition specimens have been obtained from an
alleged depth of 1875 fathoms.

SECOND ORDER:
ACANTHOPTERYGII PHARYNGOGNATHI.
Part of the rays of the dorsal, anal, and ventral fins are non-
articulated spines. The lower pharyngeals coalesced. Air-bladder
without pneumatic duct.

Fig. 239.—Coalescent Pharyngeals of Scarus cretensis. a, upper; b,

lower pharyngeals.

First Family—Pomacentridæ.
Body short, compressed, covered with ctenoid scales. Dentition
feeble; palate smooth. The lateral line does not extend to the caudal
fin, or is interrupted. One dorsal fin, with the spinous portion as well
developed as the soft, or more. Two, sometimes three, anal spines;
the soft anal similar to the soft dorsal. Ventral fins thoracic, with one
spine and five soft rays. Gills three and a half; pseudobranchiæ and
air-bladder present. Vertebræ, twelve abdominal and fourteen
caudal.
 Fig. 240.—Dascyllus aruanus. Natural size,
from the Indo-Pacific.
The fishes of this family are marine; they resemble the
Chætodonts with regard to their mode of life, living chiefly in the
neighbourhood of coral formations. Like them they are beautifully
coloured, the same patterns being sometimes reproduced in
members of both families, proving that the development and
distribution of colours is due to the agencies of climate, of the
surroundings and of the habits of animals. The geographical range of
the Pomacentridæ is co-extensive with that of the Chætodonts, the
species being most numerous in the Indo-Pacific and Tropical
Atlantic, a few extending northwards to the Mediterranean and
Japan, southwards to the coasts of South Australia. They feed
chiefly on small marine animals, and such as have compressed teeth
appear to feed on the small Zoophytes covering the banks, round
which these “Coral-fishes” abound. In a fossil state this family is
known from a single genus only, Odonteus, from Monte Bolca, allied
to Heliastes. The recent genera belonging to this family are:—
Amphiprion, Premnas, Dascyllus, Lepidozygus, Pomacentrus,
Glyphidodon, Parma, and Heliastes. About 120 species are known.

Second Family—Labridæ.
 Body oblong or elongate, covered with cycloid scales. The lateral
line extends to the caudal, or is interrupted. One dorsal fin, with the
spinous portion as well developed as, or more than, the soft. The
soft anal similar to the soft dorsal. Ventral fins thoracic, with one
spine and five soft rays. Palate without teeth. Branchiostegals five or
six; gills three and a half; pseudobranchiæ and air-bladder present.
Pyloric appendages none; stomach without cæcal sac.