472 Gobioidei, Discocephali, and Taeniosomi 



the bones are porous, thin, and light, containing scarcely any 

 calcareous matter. In the Taniosomi the ventral fins are 

 thoracic, formed of one or a few soft rays. More remarkable 

 is the character of the caudal fin, which is always distorted 

 and usually not in line with the rest of the body. The teeth 

 are small. The general structure is not very different from 

 that of the cutlass-fishes, Trickiurida, and other degraded off- 

 shoots from the scombroid group. The species are few and, 

 from the nature of things, very imperfectly known. Scarcely 

 any specimens are perfectly preserved. When dried the body 

 almost disappears, both flesh and bones being composed chiefly 

 of water. 



The Garfishes : Regalecidae. The Regalecida, or oarfishes, 

 have the caudal fin obsolete and the ventrals reduced to long 

 filaments, thickened at the tip. The species reach a length 

 of twenty or thirty feet, and from their great size, slender forms, 

 and sinuous motion have been almost everywhere regarded 

 as sea-serpents. The very long anterior spines of the dorsal 

 fin are tipped with red, and the fish is often and not untruth- 

 fully described as a sea-serpent "having a horse's head with 

 a flaming red mane." 



The great oarfish, Regalecus glesne (see Fig. 237, Vol. I) was 

 long known to the common people of Norway as king of the 

 herrings, it being thought that to harm it would be to drive 

 the herring to some other coast. The name "king of the 

 herrings" went into science as Regalecus, from rex, king, and 

 halec, herring. The Japanese fancy, which runs in a different 

 line, calls the creature "Dugunonuatatori," which means the 

 "cock of the palace under the sea." 



The Atlantic oarfish is named Regalecus glesne, from the 

 Norwegian farm of Glesnaes, where the first recorded specimen, 

 described by Ascanius, was taken 130 years ago. Since then 

 the species has been many times found on the shores of Great 

 Britain and Norway, and once at Bemuda, but never in the 

 United States. 



In this species the body is half -transparent, almost jelly-like, 

 light blue in color, with some darker cross-stripes, and the 

 head has a long jaw and a high forehead, suggesting the head 

 of a horse. The dorsal fin begins on the head, and the first 



