FISHES. 



285 



Order IX. — LOPHOBRANCHIL 



Another order of bony fishes is represented by those known as pipe-fishes and sea- 

 horses. The most prominent of the characters of the group is the development of 

 the gills in the form of tufts instead of laminse, as is usually the case ; there are, 

 however, other characteristics of still more value to be found in the skeleton, which 

 substantiates, .apparently, the title of the group to ordinal rank. Three families are 

 recognized, two of which are well represented in the American waters. 



Sub-Order I. — Solenostomi. 



One of the families, Solenostomid^, at the same time represents a sub-order, 

 the Solenostomi. The species are very odd-looking fishes, with a spinous dorsal in 

 front, and large ventral fins opposite it, and with the soft doi'sal and anal on elevated 

 ridges, and the body in consequence appears to be contracted between the two 

 dorsals ; the tail is very short, but the tail-fin very long. Three species have been 

 described from the oriental seas, one of which bears the appropriate name Sole- 

 nostoma paradoxa. The females take care of the eggs in pouches improvised by the 

 ventral fins. 



Stjb-Ordee II. — Syngnathi. 



The other two families, comprising most of the species, constitute the sub-order, 

 Syngnathi, in which the first dorsal and ventral fins are lost. 



The family of the true pipe-fishes, Syngnathid^, is recogniz- 

 able by the very elongated body, which lies in the same axis from 

 snout to tail. They are interesting on account of the peculiar pro- 

 vision for the care of their young. All of the American species 

 have a pouch under the tail, commencing just behind the anus, 

 which is formed by two folds of the skin meeting at the middle 

 below. Such pouches are peculiar to the male. The female lays 

 her eggs, and the male takes thera and transfers them to his pouch, 

 and there they are retained until the young are hatched, and their 

 safety is thus obtained, not only in the egg state, but also a short 

 time after they are hatched, while gaining strength for their future 

 struggles in life. The species are numerous, and distributed in all 

 seas, but in the North American only one genus is represented, 

 'Siphostoma, or, as it is more generally called, Syngnathus. 



The most common species of the eastern coast is the Siphostoma 

 pecMi. The species chiefly lives among the eel-grass of the coast, 

 and feeds probably upon the minute crustaceans that abound in such 

 places. 



The sea-horse is the type of a family (Hippocampid^) of stouter 

 fishes than the SyngnathidoB, and the body and the entire form 

 more or less incline to a sigmoid curvature, the axis of the head being at an angle with 

 the body. The characteristics of the family i-each their maximum in the common sea- 

 horses, or species of Hippocampus, and the likeness to a horse's head, or still more to 

 the knights of a chess-board, is striking. The head, however, only answers to the 

 head of a horse, and the so-called neck would constitute the greater part of the body 

 of the sea-horse. The little fishes are chiefly to be found in eel-grass or in other vege- 



FlG, 



159. — Brood 

 pouch of Sipho- 

 stoma, 



