136 PISH GALLERY. 



surface of the ocean, with the body highly distended by a fish as 

 large as or even larger than the Chiasmodon itself, so that the 

 latter appears to be spread out over the top of a bag containing 

 the swallowed fish. The explanation offered is that the Chias- 

 modon is extremely voracious and will attack a fish as large as 

 itself. When so large a prey has been swallowed, decomposition 

 proceeds faster than digestion, and the gases generated cause the 

 fish to rise out of its normal depth in the ocean, and as it rises 

 through successively higher strata the gases expand and carry the 

 body upwards more rapidly than before, and so the fish comes to 

 float at the surface, dead. 



Ban- a- The Sphyrsenidae or Barracudas are long, slender, swift and vora- 

 cud (i. - 



cious fishes, with powerful teeth, developed in sockets. They are 



found in nearly all seas of the temperate and tropical regions, often 

 also in estuaries. Some of the tropical species, such as Sphyrcsna 

 agam (460), Sphyrana obtusirostris (462, skull, showing teeth in 

 sockets), and Sphyrana commersonii (1019, Table-case 39, 5 ft. 

 1 in. long), grow to six feet and are dangerous to persons bathing, 

 more so than sharks because less readily frightened away. 

 They will even make savage bites at the paddles of a canoe. 

 The anterior dorsal fin is supported by spines and is well separated 

 from the second or soft dorsal ; the anal fin is opposed to the 

 latter ; the scales are cycloid and in regular series ; there is no 

 muscular gizzard such as occurs in the Mullets. The flesh of the 

 Barracuda is good, but it is poisonous at certain seasons, particu- 

 larly in the West Indies. 

 ;romate- The Stromateidae (e. g. 464) are a group of small fishes with 

 short, compressed bodies, smooth, small scales, regular in arrange- 

 ment, and usually extending over the cheek and bases of the 

 median fins. The dorsal and anal fins are much extended, each 

 w r ith a few, feeble, crowded spines in the front portion. The 

 number of vertebrae is unusually large, the jaws and teeth are 

 feeble. The most distinctive feature of the btromateidse is the 

 possession by the oesophagus of a pair of lateral sacs, the interior 

 of which is beset with papillae bearing small teeth. The young 

 swim freely near the surface of the open ocean, feeding on pelagic 

 crustaceans and the fry of fish, the adults, in many cases at least, 

 are inhabitants of the deep sea. The Black-fish or Black Huff, 



