283 



CILIATED DORY. 



Zeus Ciliaris. Z. argctttcus, radiis quibmdam in pinna dorsali 

 analique longimmis. Lin. Syst. Nat. Gmel. p. 1223. Block, 

 t. 191. 



Silvery Dory, with some of the rays in the dorsal and anal fin 

 excessively long. 



BODY rhomboidal, thin, without scales, and of 

 a bright silver-colour, with a blueish or greenish 

 cast on the back : head small, and very sloping : 

 ower jaw rather longer than the upper : teeth small 

 and sharp : several of the last rays both of the dorsal 

 and anal fin extend to a vast distance beyond the 

 membrane, reaching farther than the tail itself : 

 with these long and flexible filaments the Count de 

 Cepede imagines that the smaller kind of fishes 

 may be attracted, mistaking them for worms, while 

 the animal lies concealed among sea-weeds, &c. 

 waiting for its prey: he also conceives that they 

 may serve to sustain the fish in this situation, by 

 coiling round the stems of sea-plants, &c. This 

 species is a native of the Indian seas, but is not 

 esteemed as a food, the flesh being not only small 

 in quantity, but of a coarse nature : in size it 

 nearly equals the preceding species. 



