Pareioplitae, or Mailed-cheek Fishes 453 



with a different and more perfect armature. The many species 

 belong chiefly to the North Pacific, a few in the Atlantic and on 

 the coast of Patagonia. Some are found in considerable depth of 

 water. All are too small to have value as food and some have 



FIG. 404. Agonoid-fish, Pallasina barbata (Steindachner). Port Mulgrave, Alaska 



most fantastic forms. Only a few of the most prominent need 

 be noticed. The largest and most peculiar species is Percis 

 japonicus of the Kurile Islands. Still more fantastic is the 

 Japanese Draciscus sachi with sail-like dorsal and anal. Agonus 

 cataphractus, the sea-poacher, is the only European species. 

 Podothecus acipenserinus , the alligator-fish, is the commonest 

 species of the North Pacific. Pallasina barbata is as slender as 



FIG. 405. Aspidophoroides monopterygius (Bloch). Halifax. 



a pipefish, with a short beard at the chin. Aspidophoroides 

 monopterygius of the Atlantic and other similar species of the 

 Pacific lack the spinous dorsal fin. 



No fossil Agonidcz are known. 



The Lump-suckers: Cyclopteridae. The lump-suckers, Cyclop- 

 teridcB, are structurally very similar to the Cottida, but of very 

 different habit, the body being clumsy and the movements 

 very slow. The ventral fins are united to form a sucking disk 

 by which these sluggish fishes hold fast to rocks. The skeleton 

 is feebly ossified, the spinous dorsal fin wholly or partly lost, 

 the skin smooth or covered with bony warts. The slender 

 subortal stay indicates the relation of these fishes .with the 

 CottidcE. The species are chiefly Arctic, the common lump- 

 fish or " cock and hen paddle," Cyclopterus lumpus, abounding 

 on both shores of the North Atlantic. It reaches a length of 

 twenty inches, spawning in eel-grass where the male is left to 



