86 CARANX DEFENSOR. 



or three of the anterior. The vomer has a small patch of mmute teeth in front, 

 and the palate-bones a narrow group of similar teeth on each side. The tongue 

 has a triangular patch of like minute teeth. The pharyngeal bones have conical, 

 pointed, recurved teeth ; some of them are larger than those of the jaws. The 

 pre-opercle is rounded below and at its angle ; the ascending border is nearly per- 

 pendicular, and is smooth or without serratures, but the skin at the angle is beau- 

 tifully arranged in minute radiating folds. The opercle is short in the vertical 

 direction, and tevmmates behind in an obtuse angle, above which it is emar- 

 ginate. The sub-opercle is long, narrow, sub-triangular, wtih its base below. 

 The inter-opercle is broad and semilunar. The whole head is smooth, or un- 

 covered with scales. The gill-openings are of moderate size; there are seven 

 branchial rays. 



There are two dorsal fins ; the anterior begins behind the root of the pectoral ; 

 it is preceded by a recumbent spine, and has eight erect spines, received in a groove ; 

 of these the anterior is minute, and the third is longest ; the posterior dorsal is long, 

 falciform, and has one spinous, with twenty-three soft rays, the second, third, and 

 fourth being very long, and all stand in a groove of scales, but without any ad- 

 hesion. The pectoral is long, falciform, and ends in a point beyond the origin of 

 the anal fin ; it has eighteen rays. The ventral is short ; it begins nearly in a line 

 vertical with the pectoral, but is not half as long, as it terminates just behind the 

 vent, and has one slender spinous and five soft rays. The anal fin is preceded by 

 two free spines, the first slender, the second stout, and both are retained by a fold 

 of skin in a groove ; the soft portion is shaped like the second dorsal, and though 

 shorter, yet it extends as far back, and has one spinous and seventeen soft rays, 

 which stand in a groove of scales. The caudal is long, forked from its root, and 

 has seventeen rays. 



The scales are exceedingly minute ; the lateral line is at first much arched, to 

 correspond with the dorsal outline, and runs along the superior fourth of the 

 body to the anal fin, when it descends to the median plane, and thus continues ; 

 this straight portion is armed with about thirty-two plates ; they begin small, but 



