78 



CLUPEIDyE. 



THE HERRING FAMILY. 



The character is that the upper jaw has on each side a 

 long, wide, slightly bent mystache, or free maxillary bone, which 

 is not furnished with teeth. The body covered with scales; 

 the belly ridged, with pointed scales differing from those on 

 the body; gill membrane with eight rays. A single dorsal fin; 

 the tail forked. 



In their general appearance the fishes of this family bear 

 much resemblance to the Lake or River Breams; but they 

 differ in the form and dimensions of the mystache, and 

 especially in the saw-like keel of the belly. Inwardly also 

 the characteristic pharyngeal bones in the family of Cyprinidce 

 are lost; and the ClupeidcB for the most part are without any, 

 or they are so faintly marked as scarcely to be discerned. The 

 remarkable shape of the air-bladder is also exchanged for a 

 long and narrow tube, both ends of which are drawn out into 

 a thread, the hindmost of which in the Herring extends to 

 the vent. Of all fishes they have the most slender and 

 numerous bones; so that along the lower part of the body 

 the ribs reach to the forked scales, by the aid of which the 

 muscles of the sides become more firmly sustained; and there 

 is also a double row of hair-like bones between these ribs and 

 the upright processes of the vertebrse, by the help of which 

 the actions of the muscles of the back are rendered more 

 energetic. They are abdominal fishes. 



