MEDITERRANEAN REMORA. 



lour is an uniform brown without any material 

 difference of shade either on the upper or lower 

 surface. It sometimes however varies in colour, 

 and Commerson assures us that when a great 

 number of these fishes are attached either to the 

 side of a vessel or to a large fish, it is not very 

 uncommon to see one or two which differ from 

 the rest in being of a whitish colour. The skin 

 is smooth and destitute of scales, but marked 

 with numerous impressed points or pores: the 

 mouth is large, and furnished with very nume- 

 rous small teeth; and the lower jaw is rather 

 longer than the upper: the eyes are small, with 

 yellow irides : the lateral line commences above 

 the pectoral fins, and from thence pretty suddenly 

 descending, runs strait in the tail, which is of a 

 slightly forked, or rather lunated form. The num- 

 ber of transverse divisions on the shield of this 

 species varies from sixteen to twenty, but the 

 most general number is eighteen. The fish grows: 

 to the length of about eighteen inches. 



