THE LONG TAILS 



2811 



Sand Eels 



abundant on sandy shores in Europe and North America, as well as by 

 an allied genus from Madras. While agreeing with the preceding group 

 in the want of pelvic fins, they differ in having the vent situated far back in tne 

 body; and are further characterized by the great width of the gill openings, the 

 gill membranes of opposite sides not being united. The lower jaw exceeds 

 the upper in length, the dorsal fin occupies nearly the whole length of the back, and 

 the anal is likewise elongated. The figured species, which is by far the commoner 

 on the British coasts, generally measures from five to seven inches in length, 

 whereas the greater sand eel {A. lanceolatus) may grow to a foot and a half. Sand 

 eels feed on marine worms and very small fish; and when buried in the sand are 

 captured in some parts of England by raking the sand with a long-pronged rake; 



LESSER SAND EEI,. 

 (Two-fifths natural size.) 



their chief use being for bait. They are, however, by no means restricted to this 

 kind of life, frequently swimming near the surface in large shoals, when they will 

 at times suddenly descend to the bottom, where they bury themselves with sur- 

 prising rapidity by the aid of the elongated horn-like extremity of the elongated 

 lower jaw. During ebb tide, numbers remain buried at the depth of five or six 

 inches in the sand till the next flood; and it is then that they are dug out with 

 rakes or other implements. When swimming they are followed by shoals of 

 mackerel and porpoises. 



The last group of the family is represented by Conyrodus of the 

 Australian coasts, and Haliophis from the Red Sea, both of which 

 differ from the sand eels by the narrower gill openings, and the union of the two 

 gill membranes beneath the throat. 



Conyrodus 



THE LONGTAILS Family 



The fourth family of the symmetrically-formed soft-finned fishes is typically 

 represented by the genus Macrums, as well as by several allied forms. These fish 

 are characterized by the body ending in a long, compressed, and tapering tail, cov- 

 ered with spiny, keeled, or striated scales, and unprovided with an expanded fin. 



