604 THE OCEAN WORLD. 



They are also taken on the Dalmatian coast, and in the neighbour- 

 hood of Ragusa. 



The anchovy is only fit for food after being preserved and salted. 

 The process of curing commences by throwing it into a strong brine ; 

 then, the head and entrails being removed, they are arranged in rows 

 in barrels or boxes of tin, in alternate layers of salt and fish \ finally, 

 after some days of exposure, they are hermetically closed and des- 

 patched to market. Those prepared on the Provencal coast were 

 formerly carried to the fair of Beaucaire, whence they found their 

 way all over France, and to many parts of Europe. Now, the 

 anchovies cured at Marseilles, and other Provencal ports, are sent 

 direct to the various markets of Europe. 



V. ANACANTHINA. 



This sub-order of spineless fish contains four families, of which two, 

 the Ammodytidcz and OphifKida, are destitute of ventral fins, and two, 

 the Gadidce and Pleuronectida, which have these organs placed in the 

 neighbourhood of the pectorals. Of the first family the best known 

 genus is that of Ammodytes ; here the body is 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 lo^g; the lower jaw longer 

 than the upper. The Sand-eel, A. lancea (Fig. 385), 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 worms, on which it feeds, while it shelters 

 itself from the jaws of many voracious fishes, which eagerly pursue it 

 for its delicate flesh. In appearance the A. lancea is silvery blue, 

 brighter on the lower parts than on the upper, the radiating fins on 

 the abdomen being alternately white and bluish in colour. 



The Pleuronectidce, or Flat-fishes, have the body flat and greatly 

 compressed. In the Rays the body is flattened horizontally, while in 

 the Pleuronectidae it is compressed laterally. The head of the fishes 

 of this order is not symmetrical ; the two eyes are placed on the same 

 side ; the two sides of the mouth are unequal, 



To these peculiarities of structure we shall return when we come 

 to observe the several types more exactly. In rest, as in motion, the 

 flat-fishes are always turned upon their side, and the side turned 

 towards the bottom of the sea is that which has no eye. This habit 

 of swimming on their side is that to which they owe their name of 

 ', side, and ve'x-ros, swimmers. 



