34 



WITH HARD CHEEKS. 



ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



WITH HARD CHEEKS. 



THE RED GURNARD, CUCKOO GURNARD. 



Trigla ciiculvs, Linna-us. 



,, ,, Cuv. et Vat.enc. Hist. Nat. des Poiss. t. iv. p. 26. 



,, piiii. Block, pt. xi. pi. 355. 



,, Uneata, Montagu, Mem. Wern. Sec. vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 460. 



„ ,, Flem. Brit. An. p. 215, sp. 153. 



Generic Characters. — Head nearly square, covered with bony plates ; gill- 

 cover and shoulder-plate ending in a spine directed backwards ; body elongated, 

 nearly round ; two dorsal fins, the rays of the first spinous, those of the second 

 flexible ; teeth in both jaws and on the front of the vomer, pointed small and 

 numerous ; brancliiostegous rays 7 ; gill- opening large ; three detached rays at 

 the base of each pectoral fin. 



Cuvier's second family of the Acanthopterygii contains 

 those genera, the species of which have their cheeks defended 

 by indurated plates, which are sometimes spinous. Of the first 

 genus of this family, Trivia. ^ the ({urnards, the British coast 

 produces six species, three of Avhich are common, the others 

 are of rarer occurrence. They are chiefly caught by the trawl- 

 net usi'd in deep water ; as the Gurnards mostly swim near 

 the l)ottom, and arc tenacious of life after thcv have been 



