554 



GYMNODONTID.E. 



PLECTOGNATHl. 



gymnodontida:. 



^--'^^iiai^i^^^:^:^^^^^*'-*^"' '' 



THE OBLONG SUN-FISH. 



Orthagoriscus oblongiis, Schneider. Cuvier, Regne An. t. ii. p. 370. 

 Tetrodon triaicatus, Oblong Tetrodon, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 170, 



pi. 22. 

 ,, ,, Truncated Sun-fish, Don. Brit. Fish. pi. 41. 



Orthagoriscus truncatus, ,, ,, Fi.em. Brit. An. p. 175, sp. 33. 



oblongus, Oblong Sun -fish, Jenyns, Man. Brit. Vert. p. 491, 



sp. 180. 



It Las been tlie opinion of some naturalists that this ob- 

 long Sun-fish is the same species as that last described, and 

 that its greater length in proportion to its depth is but the 

 consequence of greater age. The largest Short Sun-fish of 

 which I have weight and measurement was that taken at 

 Salcombe on the coast of Devonshire. It weighed three 

 hundred pounds, was four feet five inches long, and six feet 

 from the tip of the dorsal fin to the end of the anal fin. 

 This was seen by Colonel Montagu, who was too keen an 

 observer and too good a naturalist not to have detected the 

 difference between the fish he examined and the described 



