RED MULLETS. 



345 



The Red Mullets, — Family Mullidje. 



Two long erectile barbels dependent from the lower jaw serve at once to 

 distinguish the red mullets from all the preceding families, with which they 

 agree in the characters already mentioned. In these well-known fishes the body 

 is rather low and somewhat compressed, with large thin scales, of which the edges 

 may be very finely serrated. The lateral line is continuous, and the moderate- 

 sized eyes are situated on the sides of the head. The terminal mouth has a 

 rather short lateral cleft, and the teeth are very feeble. There are two short 

 dorsal fins, placed at a considerable distance from one another ; the spines of the 

 first being weak, and the second being placed above the anal, which it resembles in 

 form. The ventrals have one spine and five rays, and the pectorals are short. In 

 place of the seven branchiostegal rays of the perches, the red mullets have but four. 

 Represented by something like forty species, the red mullets, which range over the 



STKIPED KED MULLET (\ Hat. size). 



seas of Europe and the tropics, are typically represented by the genus MvZlus, of 

 which there appears to be but a single European species (Mullus barbatus). The 

 tropical forms have, however, been split up into several genera, such as Mulloides, 

 and Upeneus, mainly distinguished from one another by the characters of their 

 teeth. Although these mullets are essentially marine, young individuals, and more 

 rarely adults, are not unfrequently taken in rivers. They are all highly esteemed 

 for the table, and it is but seldom that they attain a weight of even 2 or 3 lbs. 

 The ordinary European red mullet, which dors qoI usually exceed 6 inches in 

 length, is coloured carmine-red on the upper-parts, the under-parts being Bilvery 

 white. On the other hand, the striped mullet, which, although designated a 

 distinct species under the name of .1/. surmuletus, is regarded by Dr. Giinther 

 as probably the female of the former, has three or four yellow longitudinal Btripes 

 on the sides; and is also stated to differ slightly in the number of the fin-rays. 

 This kind is common on the Cornish coast, whereas the plain-coloured Eorm is but 



