GASTEROSTEUS. 
‘GASTEROSTEUS, in Ichthyology, a genus of the 
thoracic aed pening by the following: effential cha- 
racter 3 the ong and {mooth; jaws armed with mi- 
nute teeth ; ple fhott and obtufe ; : Dorey {mooth ; eyes 
moderate, fightly is aa and 
ith from thre ven rays $ 
h 
; dorfal fin fingle, with diftin@ {pines 
between it and the head ; lateral line ee ventral fins 
before it; a lon 1 keel each ail; one, 
two, or ch thoracic: fin, nO are always 
{pinous. The fifhes of this genus are in general of a dimi- 
nutive fize, and, with the exception of four {pecies, are pe- 
culiarto the feas and rivers of extra-E.uropean climates. 
Species. 
Acutzatus. Three fpines on back. Lin tick 
ling, Siac Wulff. Lhree eae "ichleback, ‘Donen 
rit. 
_ The ina th of this {pecies rarely exceeds three inches ; 
the head is rather compreffed, and the-eyes rema: genes 
body is {quare, and beneath tev vent is a fhort {pi The 
ides, and beneath 
female, of a fine red colour when in full roe. 
frefh waters in dykes, ditches, -— little rivulets, and occurs 
in fuch vaft abundance in ts of Europe, that, not- 
ddan - diminutivenes rot de fize, it is emplo yed P 
ery often as an article o Gmelin relates that ‘the 
fickleback is Frege itly ee ies ducks and pigs; and 
vell known that in a ene ighbon hood of Dantzic a kind 
pa 
rays. 
inhabits ode nar and always precedes, or appears in 
company, with the fhark. The dorfal fin contains twenty- 
feven rays ; pence eighteen; yentral fix; anal fixteen ; 
and tail nineteen. . 
JAPONICUS. 
five rays. Gme 
Length five inches, and of a yellow colour ; the head ob- 
tufe; jaws rough, without teeth; gill-covers not {caly, 
Dorfal {pines four ; lleieass with feven 
Dorfal Spines four; gill-membrane with 
toothed behind ; ‘spay {pines moveable k, ftrong, un- 
equal, and placed in a cavity ; fins connected 
thick rigid {pine, an oe anda half in length ; and the body 
covered with large rhombic fcales, ending in {pines turned 
backwards; the anterior hal ciliated with fpines, and the 
edge brown. Inhabits 
fn the dorfal fin are a —- ; peCtoral twelve ; anal nine, 
and tail twenty-two. 
Dorfal {pines feven ; anal two; gill-membrane 
eight-rayed. Gmel. 
An Arabian {pecies; the body above bhueifh-brown, be- 
neath white, and of an oblong lanceolate form. The la- 
eral line andulated on the anterior par .. dorfal fin 
include 8 one {pinous, ae ‘twenty-one fo ft pectora 
feventeen rays $- ventral, one {pinous and fix “bt rays, and 
* the ep one {pinous and eer foft rays. 
Qcerpenratrs. Dorfal {pines feven : and two before the 
al fi 
ry 
is] 
mel. 
nel of America; colour filvery ; tail longitudinally 
‘Ovares Dorfal fpmes feven, the firft recumbent ; amal 
A {pecies of ambiguous character, allied in fhape, according 
to Gmelin, to the genus Cheetoden n, and ia ane! refpects 
nct fufficiently diftinguithed & from the Labrus or the Scom 
er, with the firft of which it accords, in being deftitute of the 
thoracic plate, and with the other in its recumbent dorfal f{pine. 
The jaws and lips are reugh ; the dorfal {pines direCted alter. 
nately to the fides, the hel wy {mall, the next rather 
longer. This fifh ms 
AnoLixus. Dor aie cake 3 anal three. Gmel. 
Native: of the feas a Carolina, and greatly.allied to the 
genus Scomber ; the body is of an oval form, inclining to ob- 
long ; ; lateral line fub-carinated at = tail ; dorfal and anal 
fins falcated ; and tail nearly bilobat 
Canapus. Dor al {pines dete. ; "anal none ; gill-mem- 
brane Weil me 
ody oblong ; ayant = anal fin faleate ; tail nearly 
bilobate. Inhabits Car 
ALTATRI} Docfal ines eig ght, connected by a mem- 
brane ; gill-membrane with feve mel, 
Native of the feas of Colne, aie from its fkipping 
frequently out of the water, it is known by the name of 
Skip-jack. The lower jaw has a fingle row of teeth, the 
upper two; the dorfal ‘olicaaai are oe and placed 1 In a Ca~ 
vity ; the tail forke 
Ius. {pines about we be nd the a 
deftitute of plates. Sin dorfalibus lateribu 
My 
able feutis, Donov. croftcus pun “in dorfal fe 
pa Linn. = Cents fou Spinis decem, &5c. Spinarella 
epi inoche de mer, —n Lefer 
mn 
he mott diminutive 
rely exceeding, when full 
gro wn, an int and a half in length and is even feldom 
ound of that fize. - 
This {pecies is of a rather more flender fhape than the 
common kind, and the jaws a little longer in ie holy : 
the colour on de ioe — = es yellowith, b 
cue filvery. of the dorfal ‘ines, ae 
Linneus and Gmelin a as sie principal diftin 
rie {pecies in this genus, we may venture t a fo fa 
as relates to the prefent fpecies, at leaft is not aye conftant. 
We have feen it with ten dorfal ee as thofe authors de- 
ribe ; we have alfo feen it e, and one example 
i Se rcuniace feem fuffi- 
of aes 
tail twelve. 
ae nwacuia. Dorfal ins fifteen. Linn. Gefen 
spies Klein. Aculeatu ungitius marinus Fongusy 
Gran [ Eee Bloch. Fi a. fin peer Donov. Brit. 
Fith 
en 
rays; ventral an acute bony a a in the anal fin are eight 
