THE MULLETS 



Family XXVI. Mtigilidce 



Body oblong, more or less compressed, covered with rather large, 

 cycloid scales; no lateral line, but the furrows often deepened on the 

 middle of each scale so as to form lateral streaks; mouth small, the 

 jaws with small teeth, or none, various in form; premaxillaries pro- 

 tractile; gill-openings wide, the membranes separate, free from 

 the isthmus; branchiostegals 5 or 6; gillrakers long and slender; 

 pseudobranchiae large; two short dorsal fins, well separated, the 

 anterior of 4 stiff spines, the last one of which is much shorter 

 than the others; second dorsal longer than the first, similar to anal; 

 anal spines 2 or 5, graduated; ventral fins abdominal, not far back; 

 caudal forked; air-bladder large and simple; intestine long; peri- 

 toneum usually black. 



This important family contains about 10 genera and 100 species, 

 inhabiting the fresh waters and coasts of warm regions, feeding on 

 organic matter contained in mud. A considerable indigestible portion 

 of mud is swallowed, and in order to prevent larger bodies from 

 passing into the stomach, or such substances passing through 

 the gill-openings, these fishes have the organs of the pharynx 

 modified into a filtering apparatus. The fish takes in a quantity of 

 mud or sand, and after working it about for some time between the 

 pharyngeal bones, ejects the roughest and indigestiole portions. The 

 upper pharyngeals have a rather irregular form; they are slightly 

 arched, the convexity being directed toward the pharyngeal cavity, 

 tapering anteriorly and broad posteriorly. They are coated with a 

 thick, soft membrane, which reaches far beyond the margin of the 

 bone, and is studded all over with minute horny cilia. Each bran- 

 chial arch is provided with a series of long gillrakers which are 

 laterally bent downward, each series closly fitting to the sides 

 of the adjoining arch; they together thus constitute a sieve admirably 

 adapted to permit a transit for the water, retaining at the same time 

 every solid substance in the cavity of the pharynx. 



In our limits 4 genera are represented. 



a. Stomach muscular, gizzard-like; teeth slender, usually ciliiform; 

 lower Jaw angular in front; species chiefly marine. 



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