THE BELLOWS-FISH. 



263 



The color of this species is violet spotted profusely with black, and the fins are marked 

 with sundry bold bars and dots. In length it often attains three feet. 



The remarkable Band-fish, or Snake-fish {Gepola ruheseeiis), is an example of a curious 

 family, consisting of one genus only, and about seven species. 



The Band-fish is not imcommon in the Mediterranean, though it is seldom taken oflE the 

 English coasts. Its body is long and much compressed, like that of the vaagmar, already 

 described ; and when winding its way through the translucent water, its canuine body with 

 the glittering scaly mail have earned for it the popular names of Fire-Flame and Red 

 Riband. 



Little is known of its habits, except that it is a shore-loving fish, delighting to bask under 

 the heavy masses of sheltering sea-weed, and that it feed smostly on moUusks and Crustacea. 

 Several specimens of this fish have been found on the beach after a storm; and Mr. YarreU 



BARC fi.—Ophlocephalus ttarea. 



remarks, with some acumen, that all the fish formed after this pattern, with their compressed 

 bodies affording little resistance to the water, and their length preventing the concentration 

 of muscular force upon a single centre of motion, are ill fitted for combating tempestuous 

 waters, and are flung about at the mercy of the waves. 



The head of the Band-fish is small, and the eye is full and very large, its diameter being 

 nearly half the depth of the head. The body is greatly compressed, slender, and very smooth ; 

 the scales being minute and glittering in the sunbeams. The dorsal fin extends from the top 

 of the head to the end of the tail, and the anal fin is nearly as long. Its color is rather vari- 

 able, shades of purple and orange exhibiting themselves in certain specimens. In aU examples, 

 however, red is the predominant hue. ITie length of the adult Band-fish is usually about 

 fifteen or twenty inches. 



In the curious species which belong to the genus Centriscidse, or spike-bearing fishes, the 

 body is much compressed, and one of the spines of the first dorsal fin is long, sharp, and 

 powerful. The bones which form the front of the head are greatly prolonged, and are modi- 

 fied into a kind of long tube, at the end of which is placed the narrow mouth. It is thought 

 that the fish obtains its food by sucking it along the tube, the needful vacuum being formed 

 by the dilatation of the throat. 



The Bellows-fish, sometimes called the Trumpet-fish and the Sea Snipe, is most com- 

 mon in the Mediten-anean. It prefers to reside in moderately deep water, and is mostly found 

 where the bottom of the sea is muddy. Its food is not precisely known, but is thought to 

 consist of minute marine animals. The first spine of the dorsal fin is enormously large, strong, 

 sharply pointed, and armed on its under surface with a row of saw -like teeth, that must render 

 it a very efficient weapon of offence. The spine is also movable. The flesh of this fish is eat- 



