NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



ORDER I. SPINE-RAYED. 



Tlie first rays of the dorsal fin, or the entire first dorsal when two are present, with simple 

 spinous rays. The first ray of the anal fin always spinous, and the ventral fins have also 

 one or more of the anterior rays almost universally spinous. 



Obs. This order, which is designated in ichthyological works under the name of Acan- 

 ihopterygii, comprises seventeen families. In the waters of this State, we have the repre- 

 sentatives of ten famiHes. We commence with 



FAMILY I. PERCID^. 



Edges of the opercle or gill-cover, or of the preopercle (^anterior gill-cover), and sometimes 

 both, denticulated, or armed with spines. The cheeks not cuirassed. Both jaws, the 

 vomer and palatine bones, armed with teeth. 



Obs. a family rich in species, amounting nearly to six hundred; a number of species 

 greater than is to be found in the last edition of Linneus, including the whole class of fishes. 

 The genera of this family alone are fifty-five in number, nearly equaUing the genera employed 

 by Linneus for his entire class. 



The characters assigned above are sufficiently distinctive, but we may here add, in more 

 general terms, the following remarks on this family : Body oblong, more or less compressed ; 

 covered with scales, generally hard, with their exposed surfaces roughened, and their free 

 edges denticulated or serrated. Mouth moderately large. Gills well divided, and their mem- 

 branes sustained by several rays, never less than five, and rarely above seven. Teeth in the 

 jaws on a transverse line in front of the vomer, and almost invariably a longitudinal band on 

 each palatine, and rounded patches on the pharyngeals ; occasionally on the tongue. No 

 barbules, nor cirri or beards. Ventral fins for the most part under the pectorals ; occasion- 

 ally in advance of it ; and in a few genera only, are they abdominal, or behind the ventrals. 



This family is remarkable for their beautiful forms, and the excellence of their flesh as an 

 article of food. About one-fifth of the whole number of species inhabit fresh-water streams, 

 or occasionally ascend them ; and it is observable that some genera, which contain chiefly 

 marine species, have a few fluviatile species, while the facts are reversed in other genera. 



All the fishes of this family, found in the United States or along its shores, are included by 

 Cuvier in his great work under the following genera, containing in the aggregate about forty 

 species : 



