676 LOPHOBRANCHII. 



Oeder, IV— LOPHOBRANCHII, Cuvier. 



Fishes having a dermal, segmental skeleton, with the opercular pieces reduced to a single plate. Gill- 

 openings small : gills consisting of small rounded tufts attached to the branchial arches. Muscular system 

 very slightly developed. Snout produced : mouth terminal, but small. Teeth absent. Air-vessel stated to 

 be destitute of a pneumatic duct. 



The fishes which comprise this order normally swim in a vertical position, the dorsal fin being the 

 principal propeller, and which while in motion it rapidly undulates from end to end. 



As respects the mode of propagating their species, Professor Canestrini considered a coitus occurs, when 

 the ova are transferred from the female to the male, the latter fecundating them after they have entered the 

 ovigerous sac. Kaup remarked that "in most of the species the males perfoi-m the function of hatching the 

 eggs, which for that pm-pose are deposited up to the time of the evolution of the young, either between the 

 ventrals (Solenostoimis), or in tail pouches (Hippocampus), or in pouches on the breast and belly (Duryrhamplus), 

 or in rows on the breast and belly (NeropJ'isJ, and are thus carried about by the fish.'' Dr. Giinther, m his 

 observations on Solenostmna cyanopterum, remarks, " Kaup states that in the males of Solenostoma paradoxus 

 the egg pouch is formed by the union of the inner edge of the ventrals to the skin of the belly, and that in the 

 females the ventrals are free as in other fish. All the specimens from Zanzibar which have been examined 

 have the ventrals attached to the skin of the belly, and all of them are females : so that if the first part of 

 Dr. Kaup's remarks prove to be true, both sexes in this species carry eggs. We may state that we have ascer- 

 tained by dissection that specimens having eggs in the ventral pouch have at the same time ova in the ovaries 

 scarcely less developed than those in the pouch." — (Fish. Zanz. p. 138.) 



Fishes of this Order have been divided into two Families : — 



Syngnathidce, with small gill-openings : one dorsal fin : no ventral ; and some of the other fins 

 may be absent. 



Solenostmnidcp, with wide gill-openings : two dorsal fins ; and the fins well-developed. 



Family, I— SYNGNATHIDCE, luiup. 



Gill-openings small, round, and situated at the posterior superior angle of the gill-cover. A single 

 dorsal fin. Ventrals, and occasionally one or more of the other fins, absent. 



SYNOPSIS OF INDIAN GENERA. 



First group — Syngnathina. 



Tail not prehensile : caudal fin usually present. 



A. — Humeral hones united : male with egg-pouch on tail : a caudal fin. 



1. Syngnafhus. Dorsal ridges of trunk and tail not continuous : dorsal fin opposite, or nearly so, to the 

 vent : pectorals well developed, p. 677. . i , c • 



2. IcMhyocampus. Dorsal ridges of trunk and tail continuous when distinct: dorsal fan opposite, or 



nearly so, to the vent : pectorals present, p. 679. 



B.— Humeral hones united : male ivith egg-pouch on. abdomen : pectoral arid caudal fins absent. 



3. Boryichthys. Ridges on body very distinct : caudal fin not very long, p. 679. 



C.—Male with ova attached to the abdomen and no closed pouch : pectorals absent: caudal, when present, 

 rudimentary. 



4. Nerophis. No adipose fins, p. 680. 



Second group — Hippocampina. 

 Tail prehensile : caudal fin absent. 



5. Gastrotoke^is. Body depressed, p. 681. 



6. Acentronura. Body compressed : occipital crest without a coronet, p. 681. 



7. Hippocampus. Body compressed : occipital crest with a coronet, p. 681. 



