ICHTHYOLOGY. 



Classifica- 

 tion — 



Acanthop- 

 terous 

 Fislies. 



-" MuUus tibi quatuor emptus 



279 



Librarum, ccEiite ponipa caputque fuit, 

 Exclamare libet, non est hio improbe, non est 

 Piscis: homo est; hominem, Calliodore voras." 



Maktial, 1. X. 31. 



Seneca relates the history of a Surmullet that was presented 

 to Tiberius, and which that emperor, in a fit of economy, 

 sent to the market. Apicius and Octavius were competi- 

 tors for it, and the latter became the purchaser at the cost 

 of 5000 sesterces, or upwards of L.40 sterling. Asinius 

 Celer paid 8000 sesterces for one in the reign of Caligula. 

 The high-priced fish were brought from a distance, as 

 they did not tlirive in ponds, and increased little there in 



Gends in. ACROPOMA, Schleg. General aspect of J/w;;us, but 

 distinguished by the want of barbels. Anus nigh the ventrals.'at a 

 wide distance from the anal fin. Jaw-teeth pointed, the foremost 

 being canines. Branchiostegals seven. 



HOLOCENTRIDES. 



This small family consists of that division of Cuvier's 

 Percoids whose members have more than seven branchio- 

 stegals, and whose soft ventral rays exceed five. The group 

 is a natural one, all the species having a common likeness 

 which is very recognisable. They are the only Acanthop- 



weight, though extraordinary pains and expenditure were '^'1 " '. '^ '^'"^ unusual number of rays in the ventrals, 



' ' ■ ' ' ■ - a"d are fishes remarkable for the brilliancy of their colours, 



the neatness of their forms, and their very ctenoid scales. 

 They are not the objects of any special fishery. 



employed in the endeavour to rear them. It was one 

 of the luxuries of a giver of feasts to cause these fishes 

 to swim down streams led through the banqueting room, 

 that his guests might enjoy the sight of their brilliant colours 

 during their rejiast, or to let them die in glass vessels, 

 that all the varying hues of the expiring fish might glut 

 their eyes. Seneca says the fish swim under the very 

 couches of the guests, and they are caught under the table 



Family VI.— HOLOCENTRID.^. 



Holocentrini, Bonap. Acanthopterygians, with more than five 

 branching rays in the ventrals, and seven branchiostegals. A na- 



■„., ,.y,..;fs.;.f;:,";s^^;:z';;::i:z:s:i --ltkxs'^s z sr::'™? sr. z 



was considered to be fresh unless it expired in the hands ot 

 the guests. They were exposed in vessels of glass, that the 

 different colours they assume during a slow and painful 

 agony may be noticed. Nothing was considered to be more 

 beautiful than a dying Mullet. The struggles of the fish to 

 escape death bring out the most brilliant scarlet tints, which 



are followed by a general paleness ; and in the passage from more) 



any of the bones of 

 the cranium, face, and gill-cover, the serratures on the edges of the 

 opercular pieces, and the general stoutness of the spines of the fins. 

 Cheeks scaly. Dorsals single, or deeply notched, or two contiguous 

 dorsals. Small spines above and below tbe caudal ; dorsal spines 

 falling back into a furrow. Otolites large. Air-bladder connected 

 with the otocrane by an ossicle and a tympanum closing the orifice • 

 stomach cffical ; numerous pancreatic ca!ca (eight to twenty or 



life to death these two extreme tints mingle, says the author 

 from whom we borrow, in the most agreeable manner. The 

 liver of the Surmullet was considered to be the most deli- 

 cious part, and was bruised in wine to make a garum for 

 the flesh. Even in the present day the Surmullet is consi- 

 dered to be one of the best of sea-fishes— its flesh being 



Genus I. Myripristis, Cuv. Somewhat of the aspect of ^po. 

 ffon. Cranium sculptured. Dorsals two, contiguous, or one deeply 

 notched. Preoperculum with its border serrated, and also a ser- 

 rated line in front of the limb, but no spine at its angle, by which it 

 is distinguished from Holocentrum. Villiform teeth on the jaws 

 and front of the vomer, with a few bigger ones in front of the jaws 

 of a short obtuse conical form. Tongue smooth. An acute oper- 



white, firm, tender, of an agreeable flavour, and easily ""'"'' ^P'"«- Stomach cscal, reaching the middle of the cavity of 



digested because it contains little fat, 

 Surmullets are strongly ciliated. 



The scales of the 



Fig. 95. 

 Mullus barbatus. 



Family V.— MULLIDiE. 



Les Mulles, Cuv. A perfectly natural family, distantly allied to 

 the Percoids, but readily distinguishable from othe.r Acantkopterygii 

 by the two dorsals, widely separated from one another, by "the 

 large and easily-detached scales of the head and body, and by the 

 l)air of symphysial barbels of the mandible which retire between 

 the limbs of that bone when not in use. Body oblong, little com- 

 pressed. Fins of moderate spread. Profile more or less convex above 

 and below. A high narrow preorbitar ; small mouth, with feeble 

 teeth. Gill-opening wide; four branchiostegals. Mucoducts form- 

 ing the lateral line divided into a cluster of branches on each scale. 

 Siphonal stomach ; numerous pancreatic ca-ca. 



Genus I. Mullus, Linn. No teeth on the upper jaw; a disk 

 of pavement-like teeth on tlie front of the vomer. No spine on the 

 operculum. No air-bladder. Two species. 



Genus II. Upeneus, Cuv. Short teeth on both jaws, sometimes 

 closely villiform (Upeneoides, Bleek.) sometimes distinct and uni- 

 serial (DjjcncHa, Bleek.) Some have villiform teeth on the palate 

 or vomer ; in most these bones are destitute of teeth. Thirty-eight 

 species. 



the abdomen ; nine pancreatic ca;ca ; a fibrous exterior coat of the 

 air-bladder, which is large, and divided into two by a contraction. 

 Fourteen species. 



Genus II. Holocentrum, Cuv. Myripristis viHb a strong spine 

 at the angle of the preoperculum. Dorsal slightly notched. Third 

 anal spines generally very large. Otocrane not always connected 

 with the air-bladder, which is simple and extends the whole length 

 of the belly, and is not forked anteriorly. Stomach cffical ; eight 

 pancreatic caca. Twenty species. 



Genus III. Beryx, Cuv. Holocentra with a very large eye, but 

 differing in having a single dorsal, with only slender spinous rays 

 in front, and without any notch of separation. Anal spines not re- 

 markable for size. Stomach caical, cylindrical, obtuse; ascending 

 branch fleshy. Long, slender, numerous pancreatic ca;ca ; air- 

 bladder wide, and running the whole length of the abdomen. Four 

 species. 



Genus IV. Rhynchichthys, Cuv. General hshil ot Holocen- 

 trum, but with the cranial crests prolonged anteriorly into an acute 

 snout, somewhat resembling that o{ Macrourus. A projecting spine 

 at the angle of the preoperculum ; strong denticulations on its bor- 

 ders, and also round the posterior edge of the operculum, but no 

 strong spine in the latter. Two speciesi 



MAILED CHEEKS. 



The three Linnsean genera, Trigla, Cottits, and Scor- 

 patia, are the foundations of this numerous family, so re- 

 markable for the variety of forms it offers ; for the beauty 

 of some, from the splendour of their colours, the elegant 

 arrangement of their tints, or the gracefulness of their fins ; 

 and for the ugliness of others of disagreeable shapes, and 

 having loose disgusting skins. Few fishes are so handsome, 

 or more delicate in appearance than Pterois, whose fins 

 resemble the long feathers of the gayest birds, while Pelor 

 and Sijnanceia are about as ugly as a fish can be. The fol- 

 lowing table of the genera is taken from the Histoire dts 

 Poissons. 



Classifica- 

 tion — 



Acanthop- 

 terous 

 Fishes. 



