144 ^HE SEA SNAIL. 



t 

 '^I>e Sea Snail ^. 



The whole of this fifli, the head as well as bodj, is fof* 

 and undtuous, eafily foluble into a kind of oily fluid; it 

 is on this account that it has obtained the name of fnaiL 

 Its habitation is not properly in the lea, but about four or 

 five miles from the mouths of large rivers, where the 

 water is beginning to be fait. The body of this fpecies 

 is tranfparent, of about five inches in length ; and when 

 newly taken, the colour is pale brown f . 



The head is thick and round ; the mouth without 

 teeth, each jaw being only a little roUgh. The aperture 

 of the gills is fmall, covered with a valve or operculum, 

 which fprings from the bafe of each of the perioral fins. 

 Thefe fins are very broad, thin and tranfparent ; and be- 

 low the throat, they almoft unite together. Below the 

 throat, there is obferved a round fpot refembling the im- 

 preffion of a feal, the place which the animal applies to 

 thofe fubflances to which it means to adhere. The au=. 

 al and dorfal fins continue without interruption, till, like 

 thofe of the eel, they meet at the tail t. 



* Liparis noftras. Will. Cyclopterus liparis. Lin. Svft. 

 t Will. Append. 17. (. Brit. Zool. 



