472 Gobioidei, Discocephali, and Teniosomi 
the bones are porous, thin, and light, containing scarcely any 
calcareous matter. In the Teniosomi the ventral fins are 
thoracic, formed of one or a few soft rays. More remarkable 
is the character of the caudal fin, which is always distorted 
and usually not in line with the rest of the body. The teeth 
are small. The general structure is not very different from 
that of the cutlass-fishes, Trichiuride, and other degraded off- 
shoots from the scombroid group. The species are few and, 
from the nature of things, very imperfectly known. Scarcely 
any specimens are perfectly preserved. When dried the body 
almost disappears, both flesh and bones being composed chiefly 
of water. 
The Oarfishes: Regalecida.— The Regalecide, or oarfishes, 
have the caudal fin obsolete and the ventrals reduced to long 
filaments, thickened at the tip. The species reach a length 
of twenty or thirty feet, and from their great size, slender forms, 
and sinuous motion have been almost everywhere regarded 
as sea-serpents. The very long anterior spines of the dorsal 
fin are tipped with red, and the fish is often and not untruth- 
fully described as a sea-serpent “having a horse’s head with 
a flaming red mane.” 
The great oarfish, Regalecus glesne (see Fig. 237, Vol. I) was 
long known to the common people of Norway as king of the 
herrings, it being thought that to harm it would be to drive 
the herring to some other coast. The name “king of the 
herrings’’ went into science as Regalecus, from rex, king, and 
halec, herring. The Japanese fancy, which runs in a different 
line, calls the creature “‘ Dugunonuatatori,’’ which means the 
“cock of the palace under the sea.’’ 
The Atlantic oarfish is named Regalecus glesne, from the 
Norwegian farm of Glesnzes, where the first recorded specimen, 
described by Ascanius, was taken 130 years ago. Since then 
the species has been many times found on the shores of Great 
Britain and Norway, and once at Bemuda, but never in the 
United States. 
In this species the body is half-transparent, almost jelly-like, 
light blue in color, with some darker cross-stripes, and the 
head has a long jaw and a high forehead, suggesting the head 
of a horse. The dorsal fin begins on the head, and the first 
