CHAPTER VI 



THE 'BUR'BOr AND THE FLOUNDER 



The Burbot, or Eel-Pout — Appearance — Habits and Distribution — The 



Flounder — Appearance — Habits. 



Third Order: Anacanthini, or SpinelesS'finned Fishes 



Leaving now the spiny-finned fishes we descend two 

 steps in the Teleostean scale, and, leaving out the Second 

 Order — the Acanthopterygii Pharyngognathi, which include the 

 WTasses, coral-fishes, and some of the most brilliantly coloured 

 creatures that exist — we arrive at the Third Order, the 

 Anacanthini, or Spineless-finned Fishes. In these the dorsal, 

 anal, and ventral fins are spineless ; * and the ventral fins, 

 when present, are placed at the throat, instead of on the 

 abdomen. An exceedingly important order is this to man, 

 containing as it does the Gadid^, or Cod Family, and the 

 Pleuronectid^y or Flat-fishes, which furnish so great a pro- 

 portion of the food supply of the world. Yet out of the very 

 large number of species making up these two families, two only 

 can be reckoned as regular inhabitants of British fresh waters. 



First Sub-Order : Anacanthini Gadoidei : the Cod-like Spineless 



Fishes 



Fish in this sub-order are distinguished from those in the 

 next by their heads and bodies being symmetrically formed. 



* The only exception to this characteristic of the order occurs in an 

 Australasian fresh-water genus, Gadopsis, which has spines in the dorsal 

 and anal fins. 



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