EELS. 



675 



abundant on the coasts of the tropical and sub-tropical zones. 

 They do not attain to a large size, but many must be ex- 

 tremely voracious and destructive to other fishes, if we draw 

 an inference from the formidable dentition with which their 

 jaws and palate is armed. Other species have much more 

 feeble, and some even obtuse teeth, better adapted for seizing 

 Crustaceans than vigorous and slippery fishes. Some have 

 rudimentary pectoral fins or lack them altogether. Many 

 are highly ornamented with bands or spots, the coloration 

 being apparently very constant in the several species. 



Kg. 303. — Ophichthys crocodilinus, from the ludo-Pacific. 



MORINGUA. — Body scaleless, cylindrical, with the trunk 

 much longer than the tail. Pectorals none or small ; vertical 

 fins but little developed, limited to the tail Posterior nostrils 

 in front of the small eye. Cleft of the mouth narrow ; teeth 

 uniserial. Heart placed far behind the branchiae. Gill-openings 

 rather narrow, inferior. 



Six species from freshwaters, brackish water, and the 

 coasts of India to the Fiji Islands. 



MuRjENA. — Scaleless. Teeth well developed. Gill-openings 

 and clefts between the branchial arches narrow. Pectoral fins 

 none ; dorsal and anal fins well developed. Two nostrils on 

 each side of the upper surface of the snout ; the posterior a 

 narrow round foramen, with or without tube ; the anterior in a 

 tube. 



