78 



CLUPEID.E. 



THE HERRING FAMILY. 



The character is that the upper jaw has on each side a 

 long, wide, slightly bent mystache, or free maxillary bone, which 

 is not furnished with teeth. The body covered with scales; 

 the belly ridged, with pointed scales differing from those on 

 the body; gill membrane with eight rays. A single dorsal fin; 

 the tail forked. 



In their general appearance the fishes of this family bear 

 much reseinblance to the Lake or River Breams; but they 

 differ in the form and dimensions of the mystache, and 

 especially in the saw -like ' keel of the belly. Inwardly also 

 the characteristic pharyngeal bones in the family of CyprinidcB 

 are lost; and the Chij)eid(B for the most part are without any, 

 or they are so faintly marked as scarcely to be discerned. The 

 remarkable shape of the air-bladder is also exchanged for a 

 long and narrow tube, both ends of which are drawn out into 

 a thread, the hindmost of which in the Herring extends to 

 the vent. Of all fishes they have the most slender and 

 numerous bones; so that along the lower part of the body 

 the ribs reach to the forked scales, by the aid of which the 

 muscles of the sides become more firmly sustained; and there 

 is also a double row of hair-like bones between these ribs and 

 the upright processes of the vertebra^ by the help of which 

 the actions of the muscles of the back are rendered more 

 energetic. They are abdominal fishes. 



