PERCHES. ROCK-FISH. 



and the fins are always seven or eight in number. They have 

 no beards upon the chin ; in general, they are adorned with 

 beautiful colours, and their flesh is very agreeable food. 



5. Most of these fishes have the ventral fins attached beneath 

 the pectoral ; those in which this arrangement occurs are known 

 under the name of Thoracic Percoides: they are sub-divided 

 into two groups characterised by the number of the soft rays of 

 the ventral fin, which is five in the one, and seven in the other. 

 Among the first are those that have seven branchiostegous rays, 

 (the small, thin, and elongated bones which sustain the gill-mem- 

 brane, situate beneath the operculum, and serving to complete 

 the external parietes of the branchial cavity,) two dorsal fins, 

 and all the teeth very fine and close, like the pile on velvet ; they 

 are the Perches, the Rock-Fuk^ &c. 



6. The PERCHES, Perca, are distinguished by their smooth 

 tongue and by the spines and teeth on their opercula : they 

 inhabit fresh water. The Common Perch, Perca flumatilis, 

 (Fig. 47.) which is greenish, with vertical, blackish bands, and 



Fig. 47. tne ventral and anal 



fins red, is found 

 throughout Europe, 

 as well as a great 

 part of Asia, and the 

 United States. It 

 inhabits lakes, rivers, 

 and running streams, 

 COMMON PERCH. and avoids salt, or 



brackish water, and ordinarily keeps at a depth of two or three 

 feet. These fishesdo not swim in numerous shoals ; they feed on 

 worms, insects and small fishes : they spawn in the month of 

 April, and their eggs are joined together by a viscid matter in 

 long cords, which interlace among reeds, &c. 



7. The ROCK-FISH, or STRIPED BASSE, Perca labrax, is a 

 sea-fish that has the tongue covered with asperities, and the 

 opercula somewhat different, but which, in other respects, closely 

 resembles the Perches. On the sides are parallel lines, like nar- 

 row ribbons, eight in number, which give it the name of Striped 

 Basse ; the scales are large, of a metallic lustre, and the oper- 

 Ailum is serrated in the middle plate. This fish abounds on our 

 own coast, and is much esteemed as an article of food. 



4. How is the family of Percoides distinguished ? 



5. What are Thoracic Percoides ? 



6. What are the characters of the Perches ? What are the characters of 

 the common Perch ? What are its habits ? 



7. What are the characters of the Rock-fish or Striped Basse ? 



