224- PISHES. 



ones are almost completely adipose. Their head is thick, their snout 

 rounded, their teeth blunt, their opercula imperfectly cartilaginous; the 

 rays of their gills are strong, and are in number six. Their intestines 

 are all straight, and the only difference between them and the stomach ^is 

 in the greater size of the latter, and in its being furnished with a pyloric 

 valve. They are without caeca, and their natatory bladder is long and 

 narrow. Their habitats arc the seas in warm latitudes. Some of them 

 attain a great size*. 



Alabes, Cuv. 



The Alabes have a common branchial aperture under the throat, as in 

 Synbranchus; but the pectorals are well marked, and between them is a 

 little concave disk. A small operculum and three rays are distinguish- 

 able through the skin; the teeth pointed, and the intestines as in syn- 

 branchus. 



But a single small species is known ; it inhabits the Indian Ocean. 



It is immediately after this great genus of the Muraena that a newly- 

 discovered fish should be placed; it is one of the most singular that is 

 known ; 



Saccopharynx, Mitch. — Ophiognathus, Harwood, 



Whose trunk, susceptible of being so inflated as to resemble a thick tube, 

 terminates in a very long and slender tail, surrounded by an extremely 

 low dorsal and anal, which unite at its point. The mouth, armed with 

 sharp teeth, opens far behind the eyes, which are placed close to the very 

 short point of the snout. The branchial aperture consists in a hole under 

 the pectorals, which are very small. 



This fish attains a large size, and appears to be voracious. It has only 

 been seen in the Atlantic Ocean, floating on the surface by the dilatation 

 of its throat -j\ 



Gymnotus %, Lin. 



Have, as the Eels, the gills partly closed by a membrane, but opening be- 

 fore the pectorals; the anus very far forwards; the anal fin extends beneath 

 the greater part of the body, and most frequently as far as the end of the 

 tail; but it has no dorsal fin whatever. 



Gymnotus, Lacep. 



The Gymnoti also have no fin at the end of the tail, under which the 

 anal one extends. 



* Synbranchus marmoralus, Bl. 418; — Synb.immaculatus, Id. 419, Unibranch.cachia. 

 Buchan. XVI, 4, Dondoo-paum, Russel, XXXV, has no appearance of a fin. 



f The Saccopharynx Jlagellum of Mitchill was six feet in length, and the Ophiog- 

 nathus ampullaceus of Harwood was four and a half. The first appeared to have no 

 teeth in the lower jaw, and it is possible that these two fishes, although found in the 

 same latitude, are different species; they evidently, however, belong to the same 

 genus. 



X Gymnotus, or, properly speaking, Gymnonolus (Bare-back), a name given to 

 these fishes by Artedi. 



