153 



MANY-SPINED POLYPRION. 



Polyprion cernium. 

 PLATE XXVII. 



Valenciennes, Memoirs des Mus. xi. p. 265. 

 B. 7; D. Ull or 12; A. 3.8 or 9; P. 17; V 1.5. 



THIS fish reaches a length of five or six feet, 

 and sometimes a weight of one hundred pounds. 

 The flesh is esteemed, being white, tender, an& 

 well tasted. It seems common in the Mediter- 

 ranean from the accounts of MM. Risso and Va- 

 lenciennes ;* according to the former, it is frequent 

 in the Sea of Nice, where it is found at so great 

 a depth as three thousand feet, delighting in a 

 rocky bottom. The head is slightly flattened, 

 and strongly marked with numerous rugged pro- 

 tuberances on various parts. The preopercle is 

 strongly and irregularly toothed, and a sharp ridge 

 crosses the opercle from the upper articulation to 

 the point, which is also sharp. 



The colour of the old specimens is a uniform 



* Memoirs des Museum, xi. p. 265. 



