100 



FISH GALLERY. 



Smelt. The Smelt, Osmerus eperlanus, 294, is a delicate, semitrans- 



parent fish, which emits a peculiar and not unpleasant odour. In 

 habits it is gregarious, and it is essentially estuarine, at least in 

 Great Britain, and frequents only those rivers which enter the sea 

 through long winding channels in extensive mud flats. The 

 Smelt rarely exceeds nine inches in length : as a delicate table fish 

 it takes high rank. 



The Candle-fish, Thaleichthys p>acificus, 296, a fish about nine 

 inches in length, ascends the Columbia River, Fraser River, and 

 streams of Southern Alaska in the spring in immense numbers 

 for the purpose of spawning. Its flesh is white and of excellent 

 flavour. It is so charged with oil that the dried fish, with a 

 cotton wick drawn through the body, will burn like a candle. 

 The local name is Eulachon or Oolachan. 



Capelin. The Capelin, Mallotus villosus, 292, is a fish of the coasts of 

 Arctic America and Kamtschatka, six to nine inches in length, 

 with large paired fins, a feeble dentition, a prominent mandible, 

 and with small scales, four longitudinal bands of which become 

 greatly produced in the males and cause the body to look shaggy, 

 whence the specific name villosus. 



Salanx (297) is a small, slender, transparent, whitish little fish, 

 two to seven inches in length, which lives at a considerable depth 

 in the sea, and ascends the rivers of China and Japan at certain 

 seasons to spawn. The fish is called Ice-fish on account of its 

 transparency. The " Whitebait " of Canton consists of Salanx 

 chinensis, and is considered a great delicacy. 

 Alepo- The Alepocephalidse constitute a characteristic family of deep- 



cephalus. sea fi s h es having affinities with the Salmonidae and the Clupeidae. 

 They are of remarkable appearance and wide distribution, 

 occurring between the depths of 300 and 2,000 fathoms in many 

 parts of the world. The dorsal fin is set far back and there is no 

 adipose fin. Alepocephalus rostratus (298) of the Mediterranean 

 has cycloid scales, but scales are wanting in some of the genera. 

 Aulostomatomorpha (984, Cabinet-case 44) of the Indian Ocean 

 has the snout much produced, and a uniformly luminous head. 

 The skeleton of these fishes is feebly ossified. 



Stomias. The Stomiatidse are aberrant, deep-sea fishes, readily dis- 

 tinguishable from other deep-sea fishes by having the maxilla 



