Mare Stewart, Age 11, of Boise, Ida., for his question:

What fish walks on the sea floor?

The average fish is a handsome animal, streamlined to glide gracefully through the water. He is a swimmer, day and night, all his life. Surely a walking fish is an imaginary animal. Not at all; the odd creature really exists. In order to walk on the floor of the sea, however, he has had to sacrifice the streamlined beauty of the everyday swimming fish.

There are many fishes that walk on the ocean floor, and all of these odd creatures look like miniature monsters. They belong in the fishy order Pediculati, which means little feet. Their little feet are two pairs of modified fins that lie flat on the grounds somewhat like the limbs of a salamander.

The fishes of this order dwell in tropical seas. Many of them spend their lives in murky gloan on the deep ocean floor. Some members of the Pediculati order have adopted other oddities besides walking. The angler fish is a fisherman. One fin is modified into a fishing rod that grows from the top of his head. This fin footed Allow also swims. He fishes in the dark, a mile or two under the surface. The female angler has a luminous fishing rod to light the gloom and lure her victims.

The assorted batfishes and frog fishes are miniature monsters of the deep ocean floor. Most of them are less than a foot long. All of them can walk, and most of them can hop like frogs. Their warty skins are without scales, though some have replaced their scales with prickles. They are flattened fishes with bulky heads, staring eyes and ferocious expressions.

The most weird of the walking fishes is perhaps the batfish. The modified fans which form his front limbs are triangular stubs of flesh. They are jointed to form elbows and wrists. The small fin rays at the end of these front limbs form hands and fingers. The back legs are a pair of fan shaped fins, somewhat like webbed feet. The batfish can walk by using his left legs, then his right legs. He can also use his strong hind limbs to spring up and hop like a frog

At least one of the batfishes is a fisherman like his cousins, the anglers. However, most of the time he keeps his fishing rod out of sight. His lure is a long, thin finger housed inside his bulky forehead. When he wants to attract a victim, he casts his fishing rod out into the water. When a curious victim comes near enough to be grabbed, the bait returns to a hole in the batfish's head.