304 FISHES OF THE FIRTH OF FORTH. 



ORDER III— OSTEODERMI. 



Operculum large ; branchial opening very small ; body 

 mailed with transverse angular plates ; snout much pro- 

 duced ; one dorsal with simple, slender rays. 



Genus SYNGIVITHUS.—Body slender; snout pro- 

 longed into a tube, with the mouth placed at the extremity ; 

 gill-opening towards the nape. 



Syngnathus acus.* — The Great Pipe-fish. 



Specific Characters. — Pectoral fins present ; crown of the head ca- 

 rinated. 



Description. — From a specimen fourteen inches anda half in length; 

 head measuring from the point of the snout, to the posterior ex- 

 tremity of the operculum, about one-eighth of the entire length ; 

 body anteriorly heptangular ; at the caudal extremity quadrangular. 

 Colour of the back yellowish-brown, with sixteen dark broad patches, 

 half an inch in breadth, placed a quarter of an inch from each other ; 

 belly pale yellow. Upper surface of the back flat, with a ridge on 

 each side, commencing at the gill-opening, over the base of the pec- 

 torals, and running down as far as the last ray but four of the dorsal 

 fin where it terminates ; immediately behind the pectoral fin a se- 

 cond ridge takes its origin and runs parallel with the one on the back, 

 as far as in a line under the fifth or sixth ray of the dorsal, where it 

 becomes abruptly lost ; under the pectoral a third ridge commences, 

 which passes down the whole length of the body, and ends at the 

 base of the caudal fin ,• on the under surface of the belly a fourth 

 ridge is observed, which begins under the throat and terminates at 

 the vent ; a little above the end of the second ridge, and in a line 

 under the third ray of the dorsal fin, another ridge commences, and 

 terminates at the base of the tail. Crown of the head very conspi- 

 cuously carinated, by a ridge commencing at the nape, passing over 

 the head and becoming lost between the eyes ; eyes rather large, or- 

 bits rising above into a sharp granulated ridge, forming a depression 



g|* Syngnathus acics, Linn., Yarr., Jen., Penn. Tangle-Fish, Scotland, 

 a name so given by the fishermen, in consequence of its being found under 

 seaweed, which they call tangle. 



