178 BACKBONED ANIMALS. 



Europe (Fig. 220). The cheeks are mailed, and the single 

 dorsal fin is preceded by spines, the number of which vary 

 in different species. They live in salt or fresh water, are 

 quite small, and noted for their care of young, and as 

 nest-builders. 



Ribbon-Fishes (Trachypterida). In these fishes the 

 body is long and ribbon-shaped, the dorsal fin extending 

 nearly the entire length of the body, the caudal fins being 

 placed obliquely. 



NOTE. They are probably the origin of many of the sea-serpent 

 stories. According to Professor Wilson, of the University of Glasgow, 

 Lord Norbury's smack Sovereign captured an allied form off the Scotch 

 coast that was sixty feet in length, and from nine to ten inches in depth, 

 the dorsal fin being six or seven inches deep. 



Remora (Echeneidtda). These fishes (Fig. 221), found 

 in many seas, have upon the top of the head a flattened, 

 oval disk, formed of pairs of transverse ridges or plates, 



FlG. 221. Remora, showing the sucking-disk by which it clings to sharks. 



that are movable and directed obliquely backward, and 

 form vacuum-chambers, the whole constituting a sucker, 

 by which they attach themselves to sharks, turtles, and 

 various large fishes. 



NOTE. In Mozambique and other countries the remora is used to 

 capture turtles. A ring and string are attached to the tail, by which 

 the owner holds it. and when a turtle is sighted the fish is tossed ovei 

 and attaches itself to the victim, that is soon hauled on board. 



