222 



Percesoces and Rhegnopteri 



c&ruleomaculata are common in Samoa. The genus Querimana 

 includes dwarf-mullets, two or three inches long, known as 

 whirligig-mullets. These little fishes gather in small schools 

 and swim round and round on the surface like the whirligig- 

 beetles, or Gyrinidce, their habits being like those of the young 

 mullets; some young mullets having been, in fact, described 

 as species of Querimana. The genus Agonostomus includes fresh- 

 water mullets of the mountain rivers of the East and West Indies 

 and Mexico, locally known as trucha, or trout. Agonostomus 

 nasutus of Mexico is the best-known species. 



The Joturo, or Bobo, Joturus pichardi, is a very large robust 

 and vigorous mullet which abounds at the foot of waterfalls 



FIG. 175. Joturo or Bobo, Joturus pichardi Poey. Rio Bayano, Panama. 



in the mountain torrents of Cuba, eastern Mexico, and Central 

 America. It is a good food-fish, frequently taken about Jalapa, 

 Havana, and on the Isthmus of Panama. Its lips are very 

 thick and its teeth are broad, serrated, loosely inserted incisors. 



Fossil mullets are few. Mugil radobojanus is the earliest 

 from the Miocene of Croatia. 



The Barracudas: Sphyraenidae. The Sphyr&nidcz, or barracu- 

 das, differ from the mullets in the presence of very strong 

 teeth in the bones of the large mouth. The lateral line is also 

 developed, there is no gizzard, and there are numerous minor 

 modifications connected with the food and habits. The species 

 are long, slender swift fishes, powerful in swimming and vora- 

 cious to the last degree. Some of the species reach a length of 

 six feet or more, and these are almost as dangerous to bathers 



