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Lactophrys tricornis 



Horned Trunkfish 



Photograph from life by P. H. Pope 



Among the myriads of peculiar trop- 

 ical marine fishes, few are as little like 

 our conventional conception of a fish as 

 are the species of the Ostraciontidae, the 

 trunkfishes. In these odd creatures the 

 body is almost entirely closed in a hard 

 bony carapace, made up of hexagonal 

 plates (which are modified scales). Only 

 the mouth and eyes, and the fins and 

 their bases are free, and of the fins the 

 pelvic or ventral pair is wholly lacking. 

 Many of the species are brightly colored. 



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and conspicuously spotted. 



Four species of trunkfishes. referred 

 to the genus Lactophrys, inhabit tropical 

 American waters between the United 

 States and Brazil. Perhaps the best 

 known species is Lactophrys tricornis 

 ( the horned trunkfish, cowfish or cuck- 

 old). Most of the names applied to this 

 fish refer to the horns which are devel- 

 oped on the carapace, the two most 

 prominent extending forward from above 

 (Concluded on page 36^ 



