690 FISHES. 



C. Molina. — Body compressed, very short ; tail extremely 

 short, truncate. Vertical fins confluent. No pelvic bone. 



The " Sun-fishes " [Orihagoriscus) are pelagic fishes, found 

 in every part of the oceans within the tropical and temperate 

 zones. The singular shape of their body and the remarkable 

 changes -which they undergo with age, have been noticed 

 above (p. 175, Figs. 93, 94). Their jaws are undivided in the 

 middle, comparatively feeble, but well adapted for masticating 

 their food, which consists of small pelagic Crustaceans. Two 

 species are known. The common Sun-fish, 0. mola, which 

 attains to a very large size, measuring seven or eight feet, and 

 weighing as many hundredweights. It has a rough, minutely 

 granulated skin. It frequently approaches the southern coasts 

 of England and the coasts of Ireland, and is seen basking in 

 calm weather on the surface. The second species, 0. truncatus, 

 is distinguished by its smooth, tessellated skin, and one of 

 the scarcest fishes in collections. The shortness of the ver- 

 tebral column of the Sun-fishes, in which the number of 

 caudal vertebrae is reduced to seven, the total number beiug 

 seventeen, and the still more reduced length of the spinal chord 

 have been noticed above (p. 96). 



