CLASS PISCES. 129 



A third division of the percoides has the ventral fin 

 attached more posteriorly than the pectoral. These 

 are the abdominal Percoides. , 



Their first genus is 



Polynemus, Lin. 



So named because many of the lower rays of their 

 pectoral fins are free, and form so many filaments, 

 (from vri/j-a, Jiliim.) These have not the ventral fins 

 very much behind, and their pelvis is even still sus- 

 pended to the bones of the shoulder. They belong to 

 the percoides by the even teeth with which their jaws, 

 vomer, and palate are furnished ; but they have their 

 muzzle gibbous, and their vertical fins scaly, like 

 many of the sciaenoides ; their two dorsal fins are 

 separated ; the preoperculum is denticulated, the 

 mouth very much cleft. There are some of them in 

 all the seas of warm climates. 



Pol. paradiseus and Pol. quinquarius, Lin., Seb. iii. 27. 2. 



Edw. 208. Russel 185. 



Also called Mango-fishy on account of its fine yellow 

 colour, has seven filaments on each side, the first 

 of which are twice the length of the body. This 

 species is destitute of the air-bladder, but the others 

 have one. It is the most delicious of the fish eaten 



i 



at Bengal. 



The other polynemi have the filaments shorter 

 than the body, and the number of these filaments 

 constitute one of the characters of the species. Some 



vol. x. k 



