186 FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



All the upper part of the body, greenish ; lighter upon the 

 sides ; white, beneath. Head, small j snout blunted at its tip. 

 Eyes circular, very moveable in their orbit ; pupils black ; 

 irides dusky ; diameter of the eye, two inches ; distance be- 

 tween the eyes, five inches. Nostrils large, situated vertical- 

 ly under snout. On a line above the eyes, a series of mucous 

 pores resembling black orifices, are seen running towards the 

 snout; another series, between the eyes, (on a line with them,) 

 and the snout. Upon the entire under portion of the snout, 

 these are also distributed. Three rows of small, sharp, trian- 

 gular teeth, smooth at their edges, in each jaw, the two first 

 straight ; the back row, recurved ; the three teeth on each side 

 of the middle of the lower jaw, the largest. Tongue large, 

 rough, fleshy. Five large branchial apertures, situated verti- 

 cally ; the distance between the first, greater than between 

 the posterior. Depth of the fish in front of the dorsal fin, fif- 

 teen inches ; distance from the extremity of the snout to the 

 dorsal fin, thirty-four inches. 



The first Dorsal fin is triangular, with a fleshy horizontal 

 process pointing backward from its base posteriorly ; one foot 

 one inch long ; one foot high ; between this and the second 

 dorsal, twenty-three inches. 



The second Dorsal is adipose, rhomboidal, four inches long, 

 two inches high. 



The Pectorals are quite strong, and somewhat lunated, ten 

 inches long, eighteen inches high ; seven inches from the first 

 branchial aperture. 



Length of the Yentrals, eight and a half inches ; height, 

 four inches. Distance between the pectorals and the ventrals, 

 twenty inches. Anus large between the ventrals. Eight 

 inches between the extremity of the ventrals and the origin of 

 the anal fin. 



Length of the Anal fin, four inches ; height two inches. 

 On a line with the origin of the second dorsal, a wide carina 

 runs on each side to the tail. The space between the second 

 dorsal and the tail, four inches wide in its middle : at the pos- 

 terior portion of this space, a crescent-shaped ridge, three inches 

 across ; distance from this to the middle of the tail, nine inches. 



