CLASS V. PISCES: ORDER 3. TELEOSTEA. 



453 



THE ANACANTHINA. 



This term, from the Greek, signifies without spines, and is descriptive of the group of fishes we 

 are now to describe. The fins are entirely supported upon soft rays, and there are other struc- 

 tural peculiarities •• We shall notice them under four heads, Ammodytidoe, OphidiidoB, Gadidce, 

 and Ph'uroncctidce. 



THE AMMODYTIDvE. 



This group includes several species having a naked skin, with a beautiful silvery luster, and a form 

 resembling the eel. They are known by the name of Sand-Evls, from their habit of burying 



themselves five or six inches deep 

 in the sand; they are captured by 

 means of iron hooks and rakes, 

 with which they are drawn out of 

 their retreats. 



The Common Sand-Eel of 

 Europe, Ammodytes Tobianus, is 

 about a foot long. The Sand- 

 "^^V.c^;";.^; '\'.'r.'--^ •<>^-'-^'^^ ~"=**^^^^ Launce, a. lancea, is five or six 



THE SAND-EEL. iuclicslong. Thcsc arc ttot greatly 



esteemed for food. 

 The American Sand-Eel, A. Americanus, is six to twelve inches long; the Banded Sand- 

 Launce, a. vittatus, is four to six inches long. Both are found on our coasts. 



THE OPHIDIID^. 



This group has the body slender and elongated, it being sometimes naked and sometimes 

 covered with minute scales imbedded in the skin. They are small fishes inhabiting the sea. 



The Beardless Ophidicm, 0. 

 /, ^-s-Ej. J m6er6c, is three or four inches 



THE OPUIDIUM. 



long, color purplish-brown ; found 

 on the European coasts. The 

 New York Ophidium, 0. mar- 

 ginatum, is nine inches long ; color above ash-gray. It is occasionally taken on our coasts, 

 where it is called Little Cusk by the fishermen. 



THE GADID^. 



This name is derived from the Latin gadus, a codfish, this being the type of the family. There 



..<:ax ^sr.'N, are several genera, embracing, it is said, 



more than sixty species. In general 

 the body is of an elongated spindle- 

 like form, produced behind into a long 

 tail ; the skin is usually furnished with 

 very small soft scales, which are entirely 

 inclosed in separate sacs ; the median 

 fins are of very large size, and usually 

 divided into several portions ; the mouth 

 is wide, furnished with numerous small 

 teeth, and the margin of the upper jaw is entirely formed by the intermaxillary bones. The lower 

 jaw is frequently furnished with a single cirrus, or beard, beneath its extremity, and the nose 

 sometimes bears one or two pairs of similar appendages ; the ventral fins, also, are sometimes 

 reduced to a single ray, so as to acquire the appearance, as they no doubt perform the office, of 

 cirri ; and these in some species are of considerable length, and give off a branch from about the 

 middle, which is sometimes longer than the main stalk. 



THE COMMON COD. 



