30 The Ganoids 



scales in structure similar to that of the teeth. A number of 

 peculiar characters are shown by these fishes, some of them 

 having often been regarded as reptilian traits. Notable features 

 are the elongate, crocodile-like jaws, the upper the longer, and 

 both armed with strong teeth. The mandible is without pre- 

 symphysial bone. The fins are small with large fulcra, and 

 the scales are nearly uniform in size. 



All the species belong to a single family, Lepisosteidcc, which 

 includes the modern garpikes and their immediate relatives, 

 some of which occur in the early Tertiary. These voracious 

 fishes are characterized by long and slender cylindrical bodies, 

 with enameled scales and mailed heads and heterocercal tail. 

 The teeth are sharp and unequal. The skeleton is well ossified, 

 and the animal itself is extremely voracious. The vertebras, 

 reptile-like, are opisthoccelian, that is, convex in front, concave 

 behind, forming ball-and-socket joints. In almost all other 

 fishes they are amphiccelian or double-concave, the interspace 

 filled with gelatinous substance. The recent species, and per- 

 haps all the extinct species also, belong to the single genus 

 Lepisosteus (more correctly, but also more recently, spelled 

 Lepidosteus}. Of existing forms there are not many species, 

 three to five at the most, and they swarm in the lakes, bayous, 

 and sluggish streams from Lake Champlain to Cuba and along 

 the coast to Central America. The best known of the species 

 is the long-nosed garpike, Lepisosteus osseus, which is found 

 throughout most of the Great Lake region and the Mississippi 

 Valley, and in which the long and slender jaws are much longer 

 than the rest of the head. The garpike frequents quiet waters 

 and is apparently of sleepy habit. It often lies quiet for a long 

 time, carried around and around by the eddies. It does not 

 readily take the hook and seldom feeds in the aquarium. It 

 feeds on crayfishes and small fishes, to which it is exceedingly 

 destructive, as its bad reputation indicates. Fishermen every- 

 where destroy it without mercy. Its flesh is rank and tough 

 and unfit even for dogs. 



In the young garpike the caudal fin appears as a second 

 dorsal and anal, the filamentous tip of the tail passing through 

 and beyond it. 



The short-nosed garpike, Lepisosteus platystomus, is gener- 



