TION. 



298 COMMON DOREE. Class IV. 



nean ; Ovid must therefore have styled it varus 

 Faber, on account of its excellency, not its 

 scarcity. 

 Descrip- The form of this fish is hideous ; its body is 

 oval, and greatly compressed on the sides ; the 

 head large; the snout vastly projecting; the 

 mouth very wide ; the teeth very small ; the 

 eyes great; the irides yellow; the lateral line 

 oddly distorted, sinking at each end, and rising 

 near the back in the middle ; beneath it on each 

 side is a round black spot. The first dorsal fin 

 consists of ten strong spiny rays, with long fila- 

 ments, reaching far beyond their ends ; the 

 second is placed near the tail, and consists of 

 twenty-four soft rays, the middlemost of which 

 are the longest ; the pectoral fins have fourteen 

 rays, the ventral seven ; the first spiny, the 

 others soft ; it has two anal fins ; the first con- 

 sists of four sharp spines, the second of twenty- 

 two soft ones, and reaches very near the tail; 

 the tail is very small in proportion to the body, 

 round at the end, and consists of fifteen branched 

 rays. The color of the sides is olive, varied with 

 light blue and white, and while living is very 

 resplendent, and as if gilt, for which reason it is 

 called the Doree. The largest fish we have 

 heard of, weighed twelve pounds. 



