218 FIVE-SPOTTED CORYPHENE. 



the Mediterranean, where it chiefly frequents the 

 shores, feeding on the smaller fishes and sea-insects, 

 and is numbered among the superior kinds of edible 

 fish. f 



FIVE-SPOTTED CORYPHENE.. 



Coryphaena Quinque-maculata. C. subfusca, subtus argenfea, 



maculis utrinque versus caput quints nigris. 

 Brownish Coryphene, silvery beneath, with five black spots on 



each side towards the head. 

 Coryphaena pentadactyla. C. maculis nigris quinis versus caput 



longitudinalibus. Lin. Syst. Nat. p. 447. Block, pi. 173. 



THE five-spotted Coryphene is a native of the 

 Indian seas, and is of similar habit with the pre- 

 ceding, having a large abrupt head, and being very 

 deep in proportion to its length, as well as greatly 

 compressed on the sides : the mouth is of moderate 

 width, and each jaw is furnished with a row of 

 sharp teeth, with two larger ones in front : both 

 head and body are covered with middle-sized scales, 

 and a small distance beyond the eyes, on each side, 

 are five black round and slightly ocellated spots in 

 a longitudinal direction. The usual length of this 

 species is about twelve inches. It is of a gregarious 

 nature, and is said to assemble in such vast shoals 

 about the Molucca islands, that it furnishes a 

 branch of commerce among those people almost as 

 important as that of the Cod-fishery among the 

 Europeans. 



