384 Chromides and Pharyngognathi 
The many species of Amphiprion are always brilliant, red 
or orange, usually marked by one or two cross-bands of creamy 
blue. Amphiprion melanopus abounds in the south seas. 
Azurina hirundo is a slender species of lower California of a 
brilliant metallic blue. All these species are carnivorous, feed- 
ing on shrimps, worms, and the like. 
Microspathodon is herbivorous, the serrated incisors being 
loosely implanted in the jaws. Mucrospathodon dorsalis, of the 
west coast of Mexico, is of a deep indigo-blue color, with streamer- 
like fins. Mucrospathodon chrysurus, of the West Indian coral 
reefs, black with round blue spots and the tail yellow. This 
Ceri e: 
Fic. 316.—Indigo Damsel fish, Microspathodon dorsalis (Gill). Mazatlan, Mex. 
family is probably of recent origin, as few fossils are referred 
to it. Odonteus pygmaeus of the Eocene perhaps belongs to it. 
Suborder Pharyngognathi.—The wrasses and parrot-fishes, con- 
stituting the group called Pharyngognatht (dapvyé, gullet; yvados, 
jaw), by Johannes Muller, have the lower pharyngeal bones 
much enlarged and solidly united, their teeth being either 
rounded or else flat and paved. The nostrils, ventral fins, 
pectoral fins and shoulder-girdle are of the ordinary perch- 
like type. The teeth are, however, highly specialized, usually 
large and canine-like, developed in the jaws only, and the gills 
are reduced in number, 34 instead of 4, with no slit behind the 
last half gill. The scales are always cycloid and are usually large. 
In the tropical forms the vertebree are always twenty-four in 
