FAMILY TRIGLIDA: — HEMITRIPTERUS. 57 
the first, as to have been considered but one by some writers : indeed, in the specimen before 
me, it is actually connected by a membrane: this fin terminates above the end of the anal : 
its middle rays are longest, nearly equaling in height the first rays of the anterior dorsal. 
The pectoral fins wide, oval, and attached obliquely behind the gills, the tips of the longest 
rays extending to the space between the first and second dorsals. Ventral fins small, and 
composed of a short, stout and blunt spine, and of three soft rays, of which the middle is 
longest. Anal fin equaling in extent the second dorsal; the rays are longest behind. Caudal 
fin very slightly rounded, nearly even. 
Color. The whole surface of the head, body and fins, of a bright lemon-yellow. In a 
variety described by Mitchill as S. purpurea, the color is russet-brown, varied with whitish 
and yellowish blotches ; abdomen pale orange yellow. Another variety, his S. rufa, has a 
more uniform reddish hue, unclouded. 
Length, 12°0-24°0. 
Radial formula, Br. 6; D. 16.14; P. 18; V.1.3; A. 145°C 12733 
This beautifully colored but oddly shaped fish, of which I have seen but two specimens, is 
comparatively rare on our coast. It is known by fishermen under the names of Sea Raven 
and Sea Sculpin, and is taken in company with the cod along the coast. Its skeleton has 
thirty-nine vertebre, sixteen abdominal and twenty-three caudal. Pyloric orifice with six 
cecal appendages. The urinary bladder very large. No air-bladder. Feeds on the smaller 
fishes. 
The Sea Raven is subject to great variations in its color, from bright lemon-yellow to 
carmine. It is a northern species, not extending south of New-York, and becoming more 
abundant as we proceed north. 
Fauna — Parr 4. 8 
