of Fishes found in Cornwall. ■ ^7 



BRANCHIOSTEGOUS FISHES. 

 Cyclopterus. 



Lumpfish. C. Luinpiis. — This fish appears to reside in our seas 

 through the year, but is not often taken. But a small fish 

 of this genus, which I am rather in doubt whether I should 

 consider as the young of this species, or another and di- 

 stinct, is found plentifully in stony ground in four or five 

 fathoms of water. It is rarely found longer than an inch, 

 and differs from the C. Lumpus in the skin between the tu- 

 bercles being quite smooth. If it be indeed the young of 

 the above species, it seems surprising that when full grown 

 it should not be more frequently taken. 



Jura Sucker. C. Cornubiensis. — I have seen two varieties of 

 this fish, if they were not distinct species ; in one the snout 

 is shaped like a spatula ; in the other it was shorter, and 

 ended in a point. The body and head are wide and de- 

 pressed, with the eyes at the sides, and before each a double 

 fleshy process, about the tenth of an inch long, in a fish 

 that measured two inches ; there is a fleshy tubercle close 

 behind these processes. The lips membranous ; the lower 

 jaw a little the shortest, opening with a very wide gape. 

 Behind the head are two dark spots, each with a blueish 

 speck in the middle. The body tapers to the tail; the 

 dorsal and anal fins begin at a third of the whole length 

 from the tail, and run back to that part ; the pectorals are 

 far behind ; the tail round. The sucking apparatus is 

 formed of two circles, one before the other, furnished with 

 numerous very small tubercles. The colour is dusky, some- 

 times crimson; the belly flesh-coloured. When the colours 

 faded after death, I observed many spots on the sides, which 



were 



