CHAPTER VI 
THE BURBOT AND THE FLOUNDER 
The Burbot, or Eel-Pout—Appearance—Habits and Distribution—The 
Flounder—A ppearance—Habits. 
Third Order: Anacanthini, or Spineless-finned Fishes 
Leavinc now the spiny-finned fishes we descend two 
steps in the Teleostean scale, and, leaving out the Second 
Order—the Acanthopterygii Pharyngognathi, which include the 
wrasses, coral-fishes, and some of the most brilliantly coloured 
creatures that exist —-we arrive at the Third Order, the 
Anacanthini, or Spineless-finned Fishes. In these the dorsal, 
anal, and ventral fins are spineless ;* and the ventral fins, 
when present, are placed at the throat, instead of on the 
abdomen. An exceedingly important order is this to man, 
containing as it does the Gadidz, or Cod Family, and the 
Pleuronectide, or Flat-fishes, which furnish so great a pro- 
portion of the food supply of the world. Yet out of the very 
large number of species making up these two families, two only 
can be reckoned as regular inhabitants of British fresh waters. 
First Sub-Order : ANACANTHINI GADOIDEI: THE COD-LIKE SPINELESS 
FISHES 
Fish in this sub-order are distinguished from those in the 
next by their heads and bodies being symmetrically formed. 
* The only exception to this characteristic of the order occurs in an 
Australasian fresh-water genus, Gadopsis, which has spines in the dorsal 
and anal fins. 
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