HI THE FRESH-WATER FISHES OF EUROPE. 



FAMILY: CYPRINID^E. GROUP: CYPRININA. 



G-ENUS : CyprinTis (ARTEDI). 



The Cyprinoid family of fishes includes more than one hundred genera, 

 which are widely distributed in the fresh waters of the Old World and 

 of North America. Much as they vary in aspect and minor details of 

 organisation, they have many important internal characteristics in common. 

 The margin of the upper jaw is formed by the pre-maxillary bones, which 

 in mammals carry the incisor teeth. But in these fishes the mouth is 

 toothless ; and though teeth exist, they are arranged in one, two, or three 

 series upon the pharyngeal bones in the throat, which are parallel to the 

 branchial arches. The stomach, too, has no blind sac, and the intestine is 

 without pyloric appendages. The air-bladder is usually large, and divided 

 by a constriction into anterior and posterior portions; though in the tribe 

 called Cobitidina by Giinther the air-bladder is small, commonly divided 

 into right and left portions, more or less completely contained in bony 

 capsules, which are connected with the head and early vertebrae. A small 

 group of East Indian fishes of the genus Homaloptera has no air-bladder at 

 all. As a rule, the head is naked, and the body covered with scales, though 

 there are some exceptions, sufficient to show that the scales are not a very 

 important family character. 



The family is divided into large groups by the condition of the air- 

 bladder, the number and forms of the pharyngeal teeth, the length of the anal 

 fin, the characters and position of the dorsal fin, the sharpness or roundness of 

 the abdominal margin, and the position of the lateral line. On these differ- 

 ences of structure Dr. Giinther founds fourteen subdivisions of the family, most 

 of which comprise many genera. The groups which occur in the fresh waters 

 of Europe are the Cyprinina, which includes the genera Cyprinus, Carassius, 

 Barbus, Aulopyge, and Gobio ; the Leuciscina, including Leuciscus, Para- 

 phoxinus, Tinea, and Chondrostoma ; the Rhodeina, represented by Rhodeus ; 

 the Abramidina by Abrarnis, Aspius. Alburnus, Leucaspius, and Pelecus ; and 

 the Cobitidina by Misgurnus, Nemachilus, and Cobitis. Thus there are 

 five tribes of Cyprinoid fishes in Europe, and eighteen genera. 



The Ctyprinina, as represented in Europe, comprise fishes with the pha- 

 ryngeal teeth in three series. They have the dorsal fin opposite to the 

 ventral fin : the anal fin is short, and always consists of from five to 

 seven-branched rays. The lateral line runs in the middle of the tail, and 

 the abdomen is rounded from side to side. 



