A Guide to the Zoological Collections 



Mediterranean also. The species of Echeneis also range 

 into temperate seas. 



Echeneis^ known as the Remora, or " Sucker-fish," 

 has the spinous dorsal fin most curiously modified to 

 form an oval cross-pleated disk, or sucker. By means 

 of this sucker, which is placed on the upper surface of 

 the head and neck, the fish can firmly attach itself to 

 other objects, such as fish, turtles, ships, and can thus 

 be carried about without exertion. 



Family XXI. Trachinidce [Case 46]. 



This is a rather small family, the members of which 

 commonly have a long low body and a rather large 

 head, and mostly live on the bottom of the sea, in 

 shallow water or in moderate depths. They are rapaci- 

 ous, and they do not grow to any great size. 



To the Indian genera recorded in the Fauna of British 

 India three more have to be added, namely, Champsodon, 

 Bembrops, and Chiasmodus, each represented by one 

 species. 



Bembrops caudimacula (known to American naturalists 

 as Hypsicometes gobioides) has a most curious geographical 

 distribution : it is not uncommon in the Caribbean 

 Sea and off the neighbouring coasts of America at 

 depths varying from 68 to 324 fathoms, and in the 

 Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal at 107 to 194 fathoms, 

 and it also occurs in Japan. 



Chiasmodiis niger is one of the most voracious fishes 

 known, being able to swallow prey of greater bulk than 

 itself. It is an inhabitant of great depths, and has been 

 found off the West Indies, in the mid-Atlantic and off 

 Madeira, and in the Bav of Bengal. 



The Trachinidcr in this Gallery include the Urano- 

 scopidce and Pseudochromides of Day's Fauna. 



