THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 



CENTRAL PAVILION 



RECENT FISHES 



This exhibit is composed of typical examples of the 

 various groups of vertebrates popularly comprised in the 

 term "fishes." The collection is arranged by groups in the 

 following order: 



1. Lampreys and Hagfishes. These are eel-like crea- 

 tures with round sucking mouths and no jaws in this 

 unlike fishes in the true application of the word. They 

 are without scales, true teeth or paired limbs, and their 

 backbone is but a thread of cartilage. 



2. Sharks and Rays, which are fishes with soft skeletons 

 and small bony scales. They are the most primitive of the 

 ancient type of fishes. Numerous specimens will be found 

 suspended from the ceiling and in cases. 



3. Chimaeroids or Ratfishes. These are nearly scaleless, 

 living mostly in the deep sea and belonging to the group of 

 silver sharks. The most characteristic forms are repre- 

 sented by models. 



4. Lungfishes, found in the rivers of Australia, Africa and 

 South America. These ancient and nearly extinct forms of 

 salamander-like fishes are shown by specimens of the three 

 surviving types. The African type passes the months when 

 the streams are dried up in cocoon-like form, during which 

 time it breathes only with its lungs. 



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