DISCOBOLI ; SUCKING-FISH. MUR^ENIDJE. 51 



species of fish would be swept away by the current. From this 

 curious conformation, they have received the name of DISCOBOLI. 

 Their skin is slimy and naked, or with hard grains imbedded 

 in it. Their pectoral fins are large ; and they swim with great 

 vivacity in shallow water, and near coasts. Several species of 

 this family, most of them small, are found on the south and west 

 coasts of England. One of the largest is known as the Lump- 

 fish ; this is found as far northwards as the margin of the Polar 

 ice, and is a palatable article of food ; its name is derived from 

 the clumsiness of its form, its height being about half its length, 

 and its thickness about half its height. The Remora, or Suck- 

 ing-fish, ( 529), is placed by Cuvier in this family, although 

 its disc, or sucker, is so entirely different in its position ; but 

 he remarks, that it might be placed by itself, as the type of a 

 distinct family. 



ORDER IV. MALACOPTERYGII APODA. 



576. The fishes in which the ventral fins are always wanting, 

 form but a single natural family ; MURJENID^E, or the Eel tribe. 

 These are at once known by their long, slender, snake-like 

 bodies, covered with a soft skin, and having the scales very 

 minute, and often almost invisible. The gill-orifices are very 

 small, and are prolonged far back, s>o that a sort of long passage 

 is formed from the branchial chamber to the surface of the body. 

 In this manner the gills are so much sheltered, that the fish can 

 remain out of the water for a considerable time, without those 

 organs being rendered unfit (by becoming dry), to carry on the 

 respiration. Of course, the access of water to the gills cannot 

 at any time be so free, as it is in fishes with large gill-openings ; 

 and their respiration may be habitually less. It is in animals 

 with a feeble respiration, as has been already remarked in the 

 case of Reptiles, that we find the greatest tenacity of life ; and 

 every one knows the difficulty with which the Eel is killed the 

 most cruel injuries being sustained by it without the loss of its 

 vitality. The ordinary Eels, of which there are several species, 



r. 2 



