536 THE OCEAN WOKLD. 



to some rush in order to release themselves. They have recourse to 

 the same manoeuvre when they wish to raise the body, or when they 

 wish to wind their tail to some new object . Their two eyes seem to 

 move independently of each other, like those of the chameleon. The 

 iris is bright and edged with blue." 



The sea-horses have the pectoral fins so formed as easily to sustain 

 the body, not only in the water, but even in the air ; they are, in fact, 

 winged fishes, and probably originated the famous winged courser of 

 mythology, after which they are sometimes named. They rarely 

 exceed four inches in length ; the body is covered with triangular 

 scales, commonly of a bluish colour. They live on worms, fishes' 

 eggs, and fragments of organic substances which they find in the far 

 land at the bottom of the sea. 



III. MALACOPTERYGII. 



The principal character of the fishes of this order is that the rays of 

 the fins are soft, except sometimes the first ray of the dorsal or 

 pectorals. They inhabit either sea or fresh water, and include fishes 

 of the utmost importance as human food, such as the herring, the cod, 

 the salmon, carp, pike, and many others. Modern naturalists, follow- 

 ing Cuvier, subdivide them into three orders : 1. Apoda, without 

 ventrals ; 2. &ub-branchiati, ventrals under the pectorals ; 3. Abdo- 

 mindles, having ventrals behind the pectorals. 



1. APODA. 



A single family composes this order, which comprehends great 

 numbers both in genera and species ; they are anguilliform or snake- 

 like, elongated in form, the skin thick and soft, and have no ventral 

 fins. In this order are included the Ammodytes, Gymnotes, Murtenas, 

 and Anguilla, or eels. 



The Ammodytes have the body elongated and serpent-like, having 

 a continuous fin extending along the greater part of the back, with 

 another at the opposite side, and a third or forked fin at the end of 

 the tail. The muzzle is also long ; the lower jaw longer than the 

 upper. A. lancea (Fig. 363) buries itself in the sand; hence it is 

 called the sand-eel ; it hollows out a burrow for itself in the sand with 

 its muzzle to the depth of fifteen or twenty inches, where it hunts out 



