2748 THE BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS 



cleft of the mouth, which looks like a yawning chasm. Both the jaws and palate 

 are armed with rasp-like teeth of unequal size, capable of being raised and depressed 

 at the will of their owner. The body is naked; the first three spines of the dorsal 

 fin form long tentacles on the head; and the next three are connected; the soft 

 dorsal and anal fins being of small length. Young specimens are exceedingly un- 



BARRACUDA AND ANGLER FISH. 



(One-twelfth natural size.) 



like tneir parents, having the head smaller, the tentacles branched, and most of the 

 rays of the fins produced into long filaments. The whole of the few known forms 

 are coast-haunting fishes, the common species ranging from the European and 

 South African seas to those of the western side of North America; while a second 

 is found in the Mediterranean, a third in Chinese and Japanese waters, and a fourth 



