122 



CLASS P I S C E S. 



ORDER APODO-M AL ACO PT ERYGI A. 



LEPADOGASTER Sucker. This genus is distinguished by having its 

 pectoral and ventral fins double, and in having the sucker or saucer-like 

 cavity double ; from this peculiarity they have been named by the French 

 Porte Ecuelle, or Saucer-bearers. 



The Cornish Sucker (L. Ocelktus vel Cornubiensis) is four inches long ; 

 body reddish with dusky spots ; four cirrhi in front of the eyes ; the mark 

 behind them oval, deep purple, surrounded with a palish-brown ring, and 

 having a brilliant, blue, central spot 



ECHENEIS Sucking fish. Of the three species included in this genus, 

 the E. Remara is alone found in Europe, whilst the others are natives of 

 the Tropical Seas. They are bad swimmers, but this deficiency is sup- 

 plied by a remarkable organ placed on the top of the head, 

 which enables them to adhere to other large fishes, or to 

 ships' bottoms, so that without exertion they are conveyed 

 to such situations as are most appropriate for finding their 

 food. This organ is of a rounded form, and has a middle 

 crest, which extends from its anterior to its posterior edge ; 

 Disc of Remora. and from each side pass obliquely outwards several pairs of 

 solid bony plates, which are flat and serrated at their edges, and the whole 

 are kept together by a kind of pin. 



The Common Remara (Plate 8) is about eleven inches long; colour 

 brown ; fins bluish ; irides brown, surrounded with gold ; and the interior 



of the mouth of a deep carnation ; 

 the body, which is long and conical, 

 is covered with a soft viscous skin, 

 on which the scales are not seen 

 without difficulty till after death, 



and the animal has become dry; the lateral line consists of a row of jutting 

 points. 



The Remora has been fabulously gifted with the power of arresting the 

 course of ships by its attachment to their bottoms. Hence its Greek name 

 Echeneis, given by Aristotle ; and its Latin name Remara, of similar import. 

 One remarkable circumstance, however, with regard to the Remora has 

 been observed, viz., that it always swims on its back. On the western 

 coast of Africa they are known amongst the Dutch by the name of Dung 

 Fish, from their greedily swallowing whatever filth may be thrown from 

 the ship. 



Another genus of this family : Cyclopterus. 



ORDER IV. APODO-MALACOPTERYGIA. 



TRAL FlNS. 



WITHOUT VEN- 



THE Order Apodo-Malacopterygia include those Fishes in which the 

 ventral fins are wanting: they constitute one natural family of several 



genera. 



Family SNAKE-LIKE FISHES ; Anguilliformes. 



ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES. 



Genera. 



Anguilla - - 

 Conger - - - 

 Ophisurns - - 

 Murama - - 

 Sphagebranchus 

 Saccopharyni - 

 Gymnonotus 

 Leptocephalus - 

 Ophidium - - 

 Ammodytes 



PLATE 9. 



Spade*. Common Name. 



Acutirostris ... - Sharp-nosed Eel. 



Vulgaris Conger. 



Hyala Glassy Ophisore. 



Meleagris. 



Rostratus. 



Harwoodii. 



fquilabiatus - - - Banded Gymnote. 



Morrisii ..... Anglesea Morris. 



Imberbis ..... Beardless Ophidium. 



Lancea Sand-lance. 



CHARACTERS OF THE GENERA. 



1. ANGUILLA. Have the dorsal and anal fins elongated beyond the tail, 

 so as to form a pointed caudal fin ; and some of them have the dorsal fin 

 commencing far behind the pectorals, with the upper jaw very short. 



2. CONGEU. Dorsal fin arising either close to the pectoral fins or im- 

 mediately with them, and the upper jaw always the longer. 



3. OPHISURUS. The dorsal and anal fins do not reach quite to the end 

 of the tail, which remains pointed and finless ; in some the pectoral fins 

 are of the ordinary size, and the teeth pointed. 



4. MUR*NA (Gr. fivpaiva). Body snake-like, furnished with pectoral 

 fins, underneath which are the narrow lateral branchial aj>ertures. 



5. SPHAGEBRANCHUS (Gr. a^ayri, a throat, and /3payx ta i S^fc). Bran- 

 chial openings small, close to each other, and beneath the throat ; muzzle 

 long and pointed; pectoral fins rudimentary or deficient; vertical fins in 

 some commencing only near the tail ; body and tail nearly cylindrical. 



6. SACCOPHARYNX (Gr. GOKKOS, a pouch, and ^tipuyj, a throat). Head 

 small, and flattened anteriorly ; the upper rather longer than the lower jaw ; 

 gape enormously wide ; teeth in the intermaxillary bones very fine, pointed, 

 and inclining backwards, sometimes also, but not always, in the lower 

 jaw ; tongue very small ; eyes small, and near the tip of the upper jaw ; 

 branchial apertures before and below the pectoral fins ; body scaleless, 

 compressed, serpentiform, and capable of great distension ; tail very long, 

 and becoming filamentous at the tip. 



7. GYMNONOTUS (Gr. yiytvoe, naked, and i/uJroc, the back). Gill opening 

 partly covered by membrane, situated in front of the pectoral fins ; anal fin 

 extending from the vent, which is immediately behind the pectorals, to the 

 tail ; no dorsal fin. 



8. LEPTOCEPHALUS (Gr. XtTrroc, slender, and rc^ctAij, a head). Body 

 thin, compressed laterally ; dorsal and anal fins very small, and running into 

 the tail, no pectorals ; head very small, muzzle pointed ; teeth small ; sides 

 of the body marked with oblique lines running into the lateral line, which 

 is straight. 



9. OPHIDIUM (Gr. fyiliov, the name of a fish, used by Pliny). Head 

 covered with large scales; branchial membrane and opercule very wide; 

 body and tail long, compressed, sword-shaped, and irregularly studded 

 with scales; dorsal, caudal, and anal fins connected; in some species the 

 lower jaw bearded. 



10. AMMODYTES. Snout sharp ; upper jaw extensile, and shorter than 

 the lower ; dorsal fin with simple jointed rays ; anal fin ; forked caudal ; 

 fins not united. 



ANGUILLIFORMES. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIES. 



ANGUILLA The True Eel. These Eels are recognized as fresh-water 

 fishes ; for though they migrate to the sea in the end of the year, where 

 they mature their young in the sludge, yet at the return of the season they 

 ascend the rivers again (according to some), accompanied by the countless 

 brood of the previous year. They are delicate fishes, and very abundant ; 

 the best in quality are found in the pure rivers of the chalk districts. There 

 are three species indigenous to the British Islands, viz., the S/iarp-nosed 

 Eel (A. Acutirostris), figured on Plate 9 ; the Broad-nosed Eel (A. Lati- 

 rostris) ; and the Glut Eel, or Snig (A. Mediorostris). The back is dusky 

 green, the belly whitish, inclining to yellowish or brownish, according to 

 the water in which they live ; sometimes they are speckled with deep brown. 

 They are found only in fresh water, but indifferently in streams or ponds ; 

 and they feed by night upon the spawn of fishes, insects, &c. 



CONGER. This Eel occasionally attains the length of eight or nine feet, 

 and the thickness of a man's leg, and weighs a hundred pounds ; its back 

 dusky, the belly whitish, the lateral line consisting of numerous white dots ; 

 the dorsal and anal fins edged with black. It is found tliroughout the 

 European seas; its flesh is very coarse, and little esteemed. 



OPHISURUS Snake Eel. This genus is so called from its general resem- 

 blance to the snake form ; a portion of its tail is destitute of fins, and its 

 extremity has a pouch like a serpent. This Eel is about five or six feet 

 long, and as thick as a man's arm, with a slender, pointed muzzle ; brown 

 above, silvery beneath ; the lateral line dotted. Found in the Mediter- 

 ranean. One species, the Glassy Ophisure (O. Hyala), is figured on 

 Plate 9. 



MUR.ENA Eel. These Eels grow to the length of three feet, and 



