242 THE COD FAMILY. 



glance brightly like burnished silver with a slightly cupreous 

 sheen. The ventral median line has on each side a band of 

 pigment (continuous with the lateral bars described above), but 

 the chromatophores are less regular than along the dorsum, 

 though opposite the bases of the ventral fins the black pigment 

 is uniformly arranged, apparently at the base of each ray. 

 Pigment also occurs on the sides and under-surface of the lower 

 jaw, and a thin dark streak passes a short distance backward in 

 the middle line. The breast-fins are translucent, the rays 

 only gleaming during their active vibratile movements. The 

 first two dorsal fins have the blackish pigment best developed 

 on the membrane between the rays — towards the free edge, the 

 basal region being pale. The first anal fin is speckled with 

 black anteriorly. The ventral fins are translucent with a few 

 grains of white on the two outer rays, the second of which is 

 now elongating. The tail-fin is free from chromatophores. The 

 eyes show an iridescent orange-hue with minute specks of black 

 on a silvery ground laterally ; while from the dorsum they are 

 blackish with minute iridescent greenish specks. 



No tropical fish could present greater beauty of coloration 

 or more perfect symmetry and grace of outline. They may be 

 seea hanging in the water obliquely with their heads downward 

 against the current, and measure from 1'37 to 1'9 inch in length. 

 Their food consists of copepods, cirripedes, and young annelids. 

 A young fish at this stage is figured in Plate IX, fig. 7. This 

 remarkable coloration probably has an important protective 

 function, the reversion to the transversely barred arrangement 

 of the early larval stage being noteworthy. 



Professor Sars has described later stages about 2 inches in 

 length congregating together in shoals in early August. They 

 appeared to frequent the alga; of the shore and growth was rapid. 

 They are 4 to 5 inches or a little more in our country in October, 

 6 inches in mid-November, and 6 to 10 inches in mid-December. 

 He supposed that a continual succession of shoals frequented 

 the bottom algEB, these migrating outwards again upon attain- 

 ing a greater size. Apparently two varieties of these algae -fish, 

 differing in colour, occur, the reddish-yellow fish frequenting 

 the algaj and feeding on the red crustaceans, and the green or 



