478 PISCES SUB-CLASS III.TELEOSTOML 



body, which is covered with small scales ; the laterally-placed eyes being rela- 

 tively large. 



Omitting all mention of the unimportant families Trichonotidce and CVimefoe, 

 except the statement that some members of the former, like the New 



Zealand Hemerocoetes, have a continuous rayed and spineless 



Family dorsal fin running nearly the whole length of the back, with 



Blenniidce. a very similar anal beneath, we come to the widely-spread 



and numerous family of the blennies. In these the body is 

 more or less cylindrical in form, with its skin either naked or covered with 

 scales, which are generally small. There may be from one to three dorsal 

 fins, which occupy nearly the whole length of the back, but vary much in the 

 relative proportion of spines, which in some cases constitute the entire 

 structure. The anal is long, with few or no spines, and the pelvic pair, when 

 developed, are jugular, and comprise less than five soft rays. Usually the 

 head is furnished with false gills, and this character helps to distinguish the 

 blennies from the cod tribe, which they resemble in the structure of the 

 pelvic fins. Although a few attain large dimensions, the great majority of 

 the blennies are small fish, and they include some of the most diminutive of 

 their class. While some are estuarine or fluviatile in their habits, many 

 more are marine and littoral, ranging over all the temperate and tropical 

 coasts of the globe. The true blennies (Blennius), which have a naked skin, 

 enjoy a wide geographical range, some being found far out in the open ocean 

 among masses of floating weed, while others inhabit rivers, or even lakes. 

 Whereas these blennies produce spawn in the ordinary way, the two species 

 of the allied genus Zoarces one of which is British give birth to living 

 young. In these fishes rudimental scales are developed in the skin, and the 

 dorsal fin is only separated by a notch from the caudal, with which the anal 

 is continuous. A remarkable contrast in point of size to the ordinary 

 blennies is afforded by the various species of wolf -fish (Anarrhichas), which 

 inhabit all the northern seas, and some of which grow to as much as a couple 

 of yards in length. They have their mouths crammed with a number of very 

 powerful tuberculated teeth, admirably adapted for grinding the hard shells 

 of the shell-fish, crabs, and lobsters, on which these voracious fish subsist. 



No mention at all can be made of the fifth family (Acanthodinidce) of the 

 blenniform section, and but a very brief one of the sixth, which includes the 



so-called spiny eels (Mastacembelus and Rhynchobdella) of 



Family West Africa and the Oriental countries. These are in- 



Rhynchobdd- habitants of both brackish and fresh waters, and are chiefly 



lidce. remarkable for their resemblance in general appearance to 



the true eels (Murcenidw), from which they may, however, be 

 at once distinguished by the presence of low spines in the fore-part of the elon- 

 gated dorsal fin. Here, too, may be mentioned the curious oil -fish (Comephorus) 

 of Lake Baikal, in regard to whose systematic position naturalists appear to be 

 still in some degree of doubt, although it probably forms a family by itself. 



The large fishes forming the family Sphynenidce are commonly known as 

 barracudas, but since that name is applied to the members of a family already 



noticed, it is better to term them barracuda-pikes. They are 



Section Mugili- the first representatives of a sectional group in which the 



formes. Family back bears two fins, the first of these being composed either 



SphyrcBtudtK, of feeble spines, or short, like the second, while the pelvic 



fins are abdominal in position, and comprise five rays and a 

 single spine. The barracuda-pikes, which sometimes grow to as much as 



