GEN. ORTHAGORISCUS. SHORT SUN-FISH. 285 



Gen. CI. ORTH A.GORISCUS. The oblongo-circu- 



o 



lar form, compressed body truncated behind, great 

 depth of tail, head not distinguishable from the 

 trunk, and the undivided jaws which serve as a 

 cutting edge instead of teeth, at once mark this 

 conspicuous and very remarkable genus. The spe- 

 cies are far from numerous and two of them are 

 found in our sea, one of them not very scarce, and 

 the other a very rare visitor. They are called Sun- 

 fish, it is supposed, on account of their circular 

 form, and shining surf ice. They grow to a large 

 size, and as Mr. Svvainson remarks, look more like 

 the dissevered head of a fish than the entire animal 

 itself. They are said to exhibit a high degree of 

 phosphorescence. 



(Sp. 211.) O.mola. Short Sun- fish. In some 

 instances this fish is almost perfectly circular in the 

 outline; at other times it is more elongated, the 

 length increasing with age more than the breadth. 

 It may always be distinguished from the following 

 species, with which it has sometimes been con- 

 founded, by the comparative shortness of body, the 

 roughly granular skin, and the rounded extremity 

 of the pectoral fin. The body is very deep for its 

 length, the rays of the dorsal and anal fins long and 

 pointed, and both unite with the caudal, which is 

 of the whole width of the body. Although a rare 

 fish, examples have occurred at intervals all along 

 the coasts of Britain, from Shetland to Cornwall, as 

 well as in the Irish seas, and they are always objects 

 of curiosity to their captors from their singular as 



