134 VERTEBRATES; FISHES. 



gular forms. Pipefishes have a very long and slender 

 body covered with hard plates, and a long snout with 

 the mouth at the end. They live in the warm seas. 

 After the eggs are laid, the male takes them in a sort 

 of sack and carries them about with him till they are 

 hatched. Sea Horses have a short bod\- cox'ercd with 

 spin)' plates, a tail adapted for grasping objects, and the 

 head and neck resemble those of a Horse. They are 

 from three to six inches long, and live in the sea. 



Puffers, Trunkfishes, etc., or Plectognathi. 



Puffers have the body covered with spines, and can 

 sv^-ell themseh'es like a balloon by swallowing air. The 

 Common Puffer lives in the Atlantic Ocean, and is about 

 a foot long. 



The Sunfish, of the Atlantic, grows to the length 

 of four feet, and weighs five hundred pounds. 



The Trunkfish has the head and body covered with 

 bon)' plates, so firmly attached to each other that they 

 form a shield, and the mouth, tail, and fins are the 

 only movable parts. Two or three kinds are found on 

 the Atlantic coast of the United States. 



Sturgeons and Garpikes. 



Sturgeons are Fishes whose skeleton is a sort of carti- 

 lage, instead of being bony, as in those already de- 

 scribed. They are also covered with bony plates placed 

 in rows along the whole length of the body, and the 

 mouth is under the snout, and can be much protruded. 

 They are from three to ten feel long, inhabit lakes and 

 the ocean, and ascend rivers. See Figure 233. 



