164 ACANTHOPTERYGII. GOBIAD.E. 



is a truly formidable creature, attaining the 

 length of seven feet, and its hideous, broad, cat- 

 like face, and its wide grinning mouth, bristling 

 with stout sharp teeth, give it a most revolting 

 aspect, while it is endowed with a strength 

 and a ferocity conformable to its appearance. 

 " It is remarkably strong, very active, and 

 equally ready to defend itself or attack an enemy. 

 It often enters the fishermen's nets for the 

 purpose of plundering them of the entangled 

 fish ; and when the fishermen attack it, and it 

 cannot dart through the net, it fights like a lion. 

 They maul it with hand-spikes, spars, and such 

 heavy timber as they may have in the boats ; but 

 even when it is landed, and apparently dead, they 

 are not quite safe from its bite." Its teeth re- 

 semble the canines and molars of quadrupeds, 

 and their strength is so great as to break down 

 and crush the hardest shells, and even stones. 

 The flesh is excellent, yet such is the prejudice 

 with which its ferocious face and long slimy 

 body are viewed, that the common people turn 

 from it with disgust. 



2. Gohiana. These are remarkable for having 

 the ventral fins fully developed, and united, either 

 for their whole length, or at their bases, into a 

 single hollow disk, shaped more or less like a 

 funnel, analogous to that of the soft-finned Cy- 

 clopteridcs, formed in the same manner, and ap- 

 plicable to the same use, that of a sucker, whereby 

 they affix themselves to rocks and other sub- 

 stances. The rays of the dorsal (of which there 

 is either one or two) are flexible. The gill-aper- 

 ture is small, and these fishes can in consequence 

 live a long time out of the water. Some of these 



