DORAB. 



485 



whole fish to be bathed in a brilliant luminous halo. This fish must, indeed, be a 

 formidable creature to the other inhabitants of the ocean abysses ; being in every 

 way constructed and armed for strife, and its powerful teeth admirably fitted 

 to seize and tear the flesh of the other fishes upon which it preys." In other 

 species {e.g. Eustomias) the barbel is greatly lengthened, all the fins form long 

 dentated filaments ; the whole of these structures being apparently modified for 

 the emission of phosphorescent light. In our figured species not only are there 

 luminous dots down the sides of the body, but also larger plates beneath the eyes. 



The Dorab, — Family Chirocentrw.-e. 



With the fish represented in the accompanying illustration, which ranges 

 from the Red Sea to the Malay Archipelago, and is commonly known in the East 

 as the dorab (Chirocentrus dorab), we come to the first of what we may term the 



%d j/ocf L 



LONG-FINNED HERRING {\ Hat. size). 



herring and salmon group, the more typical members of which differ from the 

 preceding families of this section in having the parietal bones of the skull separated 

 from one another by the intervention of the supraoccipital. In common with the 

 herrings, this fish, which is the sole representative of its family, has but a single 

 true tail-vertebra. Externally the body is covered with thin deciduous scales; 

 barbels, and a fatty fin are alike lacking ; but the elements of the gill-covers are 

 fully developed. The margin of the upper jaw is formed partly by the premaxilhe 

 and partly by the maxillae, which are firmly welded at their junction; the short 

 dorsal fin is situated in the caudal region of the vertebral column above the much 

 longer anal, the tail is deeply forked, the pelvic fins are minute, the lower 

 surface of the body is sharp, the gill-opening wide, and false gills wanting. The 

 upward direction of the cleft of the mouth, which is armed with formidable teeth, 

 coupled with the elongation of the lower jaw, gives a rather peculiar expression t<> 

 the head, and the eyes are remarkable for being covered with skin. The stomach 

 is furnished with a blind appendage, the intestine is short, and the air-bladder 

 cellulated. As this fish attains a length of fully a dozen feet it is a sufficiently 

 formidable monster, and when captured is said to bite viciously al every object 



