THE THICK-RAYED FISHES 2717 



with a single spine and five rays. The species figured on the opposite page is the 

 Australian one (.//. conwayi). Nothing seems to have been ascertained with regard 

 to the life history of any member of the family. 



THE THICK-RAYED FISHES Family CIRRHITID& 



This small family, which, for want of a better English name, we designate as 

 above, comprises several genera from the Indo- Pacific and Australasian seas, some 

 members of which are of the first importance as food fishes in the British colonies. 

 Closely allied to the next family, they differ therefrom (and thereby resemble the 

 preceding groups) in the absence of a bony connection between the preopercular 

 bone and the infraorbital ring of the skull; and they are specially distinguished by 

 the thickened and undivided lower rays of the pectoral fin, which in some cases are 

 elongated so as to aid in the movements, while in others they may perhaps serve as 



SPOTTED FIRM FIN. 



(One-half natural size.) 



additional organs of touch. In form, the body is oblong and compressed, with its 

 investing scales of the cycloidal type; the mouth is terminal, with a lateral cleft; 

 and the eyes are situated on the sides of the head. As a rule, the branchiostegal 

 rays are six in number, although they may be reduced to five or three. The teeth 

 are villiform or pointed, and in some cases there are tusks among the smaller ones. 

 In the single dorsal fin the spinous and soft portions are of nearly equal extent; the 

 anal fin, which is generally smaller than the soft dorsal, carries three spines; and 

 the pelvics, which, although thoracic in position, are situated at a considerable dis- 

 tance from the root of the pectorals, have one spine and five rays. These fishes are 

 inhabitants of all tropical seas and the temperate zone of the South Pacific. They 



