PISCES. 149 



Apocryptes VALENC. Scales very small, immersed in mucous 

 skin. Maxillary teeth in a single row. Dorsal fins two. Charac- 

 ters of Gobius. 



Sp. Gobius pectinirostris L. &c. 



Amllyopus VALENC., Tcenioides LACEP. Body naked, elongate, 

 anguilliform. Dorsal fin single. Mouth simous. Maxillary teeth in 

 a single row, exsert, long. Eyes very small. 



Sp. Amllyopus cosculus VALENC., Gobius anguittaris L.? Amllyopus Her- 

 mannianus VALENC., Tcenioides Hertnanni LAC. Poiss. n. PL 14, fig. i; 

 Cuv. et VALENC. Poiss. xn. PI. 350. 



Trypauchen VALENC. 



III. Ventral fins concrete into a disc, with all the rays undi- 

 vided. (Discoboli.) Branchiae three only or three and a half, with 

 the last branchial arch naked on its posterior or on both sides. 

 Swimming-bladder none. 



Cyclopterus L. Body scaleless, covered with mucous skin, with 

 some osseous points dispersed. Teeth small, acute, crowded in 

 intermaxillary bone and lower jaw. Branchiostegous membrane 

 with six rays. Pectoral fins large, produced under the throat. 

 Kays of ventral fins conjoined by an orbicular membrane, disposed 

 to form an oval disc. (Pyloric appendages numerous.) 



J. MUELLER has separated this genus from the Malacopterygii, under 

 which it was placed previously, and asserted its affinity with the Goliolds. 

 There are either two dorsal fins or a single longer one (Liparis ARTEDI) ; 

 the rays of the first dorsal fin, or the anterior rays of the single dorsal fin, 

 are simple bony rays, without joints. 



The skeleton of these fishes is always soft and for the most part carti- 

 laginous. It contracts much in drying, and then exhibits a laminated 

 texture. The rays of the ventral fins are placed around an oval plate 

 of bone : the whole forms a hollow sucker, which by its thick margin 

 attaches itself by adhesion to the surface of solid bodies ; if the attempt be 

 made from without to detach the fish, it loosens the innermost part of the 

 cavity, thus causing a vacuum, by which the attachment is rendered 

 stronger. The loosing can be effected without considerable force bv the 

 volition alone of the fish, which moves the rays and thus raises the edge 

 of the disc, so that the water can penetrate between it and the surface 

 to which it adhered. Comp. EATHKE Bemerlcungen uber den JBau des 

 Cyclopterus Lumpus, MECKEL'S Archiv f. d. Physiol. vn. 1822. s. 498 

 524, with fig. 



Sp. Cyclopterus Lumpus L., BLOCH Ichth. Tab. 30, LACEP. Poiss. n. PI. 3, 

 fig. i, GUERIN Iconogr., Poiss. PL 62, fig. 2 ; the lump-fish; a figure of the 

 skeleton is to be found in ROSENTHAL Ichthyot. Taf. xix. fig. i. Young 



