BARRACUDAS, ATHERINES, AND GRAY MULLETS 2767 



large with a produced muzzle, medium-sized lateral eyes, and small teeth. There 

 are two dorsal fins, of which the first is much shorter than the second, which is sim- 

 ilar to the anal; the pelvic fins are wanting, and there is no papilla near the vent. 

 The gill opening is wide; there are four gills, and no air bladder. The skeleton is 

 very soft, and the elements of the gill cover are not distinctly differentiated. In 

 color this strange fish is uniformly greenish, and its pectoral fins are remarkable for 

 their large size. While the oil fish presents some resemblance to the dragonets, it 

 differs by the compressed body, the large, broad-snouted head, the elongation of 

 many of the rays of the second dorsal fin, the large pectorals, the absence of pelvic 

 fins, and the forked tail. So far as present information goes, the oil fish is confined 

 to Lake Baikal, where in winter it retires to the greatest depths, but approaches the 

 shore in the warmer months. Swimming with remarkable speed, it is enabled by 

 the length of its pectorals to take considerable leaps above the surface of the water, 

 and thus approaches the flying fish. During stormy weather great numbers of these 

 fishes are frequently stranded, when they are collected by the natives for the pur- 

 pose of extracting the oil from them. 



BARRACUDAS, ATHERINES, AND GRAY MULLETS Families 

 ATHERINID^, and MUGILID^S, 



Following Dr. Gunther's classification, these three families form a sectional 

 group differing from those we have been considering by the position of the pelvic 

 fins which are abdominal, and have one spine and five soft rays. The two dorsal 

 fins are situated more or less remote from one another, the first being either short, 

 like the second, or composed of weak spines. 



The large and ferocious fishes commonly known as barracudas 

 {Sphyrana), of which a species (S. vulgaris} is shown in the upper 

 figure of the illustration on p. 2748, are the sole existing representa- 

 tives of the first family, which is distinguished by the elongated and subcylindrical 

 form of the body, the large cutting teeth, the continuous lateral line, and the pres- 

 ence of only twenty-four vertebrae in the backbone. The scales are small and 

 cycloidal; the cleft of the mouth is wide; and the medium-sized eyes have a lateral 

 position. Represented by something less than a score of species, barracudas are 

 distributed over all temperate and tropical seas, but generally prefer the neighbor- 

 hood of the coast of the open ocean. They are all carnivorous and fierce in their 

 disposition, and since they frequently grow to six or eight feet in length, they are 

 as much or even more dreaded by bathers in seas where they are more common than 

 sharks. They are extensively caught for food, but in some instances, from their 

 having fed on poisonous kinds of fish, their own flesh becomes impregnated with 

 the venom. Moseley writes that " there is a great fishery at the Cape, of a fish 

 called snook, a kind of barracuda, which is salted and dried, and sent mainly to- 

 Mauritius for sale. The snook boats were always to be seen about in the bay. 

 The fish are caught with a hook and line while the boat is in motion. -The fisher- 

 men are especially careful not to get bitten by the fish as they haul them in, wounds 



