THE CORYPH;ENA. 151 



The bine and parrot fish. 



THECORYPH&NA. 



OF this fish there are twelve species, most of 

 which are natives of foreign seas. The general 

 characters are, the head is declined and trun- 

 cated ; the membrane covering the gills has six 

 rays, and the back fin runs the whole length of 

 the hack. The most remarkahle are the blue and 

 parrot fish. The former is described by Catesby 

 as having its head of a very odd structure, re- 

 sembling that of the spermaceti whale; the mouth 

 is small, each mandible armed with a single row 

 of even teeth, so closely joined, that they seem 

 entire bones; the iris of the eye is red. On the 

 back is a long pliant fin, somewhat indented on 

 the edge ; behind the gills are two fins, one under 

 the abdomen, and another behind the anus. The 

 tail is forked, and the whole fish entirely blue. They 

 are taken on the coasts of the Bahama islands, 

 and in most of the seas between the tropics. 



The parrot fish has a large month, paved as it 

 were with blunt teeth, closely connected, after 

 the manner of the sea-wolf. The body is co- 

 vered with green scales ; the eyes are red and 

 yellow ; the upper part of the head brown, the 

 lower part, and the gills blue, bordered with a 

 dusky red ; a streak of red extends from the 

 throat behind the gills, at the upper end of which 

 is a bright yeiknv spot. The fins are five in 

 number, one extending almost the length of the 

 J?ack, of a bay or cinnamon colour ; there are 



