TEETH AND ANATOMY OF THE ZANDER. 3r5 



The teeth in the lower jaw fit into cavities in the upper 

 jaw. Both sides of the upper and lower jaw are armed 

 with trenchant teeth. They look more like dragons' 

 teeth than fishes' teeth. 



The roof of the mouth is also armed with two rows of 

 teeth, the two anterior teeth being much the longest. 

 I have in my collection many specimens of fishes' teeth, 

 but none, I think, so terrible as those of the pike-perch. 

 The teeth of an animal indicate the food on which it 

 subsists. I should say, therefore, that the pike-perch 

 is a most voracious and carnivorous fish, but still I 

 think he must have different habits from the pike, as his 

 teeth are differently arranged. Mr. Searle, on dissect- 

 ing this fish, found that the stomach was thin, but very 

 capacious ; in it were the remains of a fish, which 

 appeared to be very like that of another pike -perch. 

 When examining the stomach the oesophagus felt very 

 rough ; I therefore dried the soft parts and found that 

 the pike-perch had a pavement of teeth on each side of 

 the gullet, as well as a set to correspond on the floor of 

 the pharynx. The edges of the bones which carry the 

 gills are also covered with tufts, which tufts are com- 

 posed of very minute needle-pointed spikes of bone ; 

 these, when dried, look exceedingly pretty. 



The subject dissected was a female full of roe. The 

 eggs are very minute, smaller than perch ; in fact, the 

 zander, or pike-perch, is a voracious form of perch. 

 Our friends Mr. T. K. Sachs and Max von dem Borne 

 state that he is a free biter. I should certainly say his 

 teeth indicate that he would snap at anything, and I 

 should say very strong tackle would be required to catch 

 him at all. I should say these fish frequent very large 

 lakes, such as exist in Kussia, and where roach and 

 other white fish abound. 



