THE FISHES OF NEW JERSEY. 365 
Orbidus maculatus Moore, Bull. U. S. F. Com., XII, 1892, p. 
363. 
Tetraodon turgidus Baird, 9th An. Rep. Smiths Inst., 1854, 
p.352. 
Gastrophysus turgidus Abbott, Geol. N. J., 1868 p. 827. 
Tetrodon turgidus Bean, Bull. U. S. F. Com., VII, 1887, p. 
133. 
Family DIODONTIDZE. 
The Porcupine Fishes. 
Body short, broad, depressed above. Caudal peduncle short 
and slender. Eye rather large. Mouth moderate, terminal, each 
jaw covered with a bony plate like beak of bird, these not divided 
by median suture. Nostrils on each side forming a small ten- 
tacle, usually with 2 openings. Gill-openings moderate, im- 
mediately in front of pectorals. Belly moderately inflatable, cov- 
ered everywhere except on lips and caudal peduncle with spines, 
which are usually 2-rooted or 3-rooted at their bony base. Dor- 
sal and anal short, similar to each other, rounded in form and 
placed posteriorly. 
Sluggish fishes living on the bottom among weeds and corals in 
tropical seas. When disturbed they swallow air and float belly 
upward on the water. Their capacity of inflation is very much 
less than that of the Tetrodontide, from which they differ chiefly 
in the stronger armature and in having no division in the bony 
plate of either jaw. They are rarely used as food, being gener- 
ally regarded as poisonous. The species are well known in col- 
lections, having attracted the attention of travellers in the earliest 
times. Two species have been recorded from our shores. 
Key to the genera. 
a. Each dermal ossification as a 2-rooted fine flexible spine, or hair-like 
bristle. TRICHODIODON 
aa. Each dermal ossification as usually a 3-rooted short stiff. immovable 
spine. CHILOMYCTERUS 
