SUN-FISHES. 



199 



has high dorsal and anal fins. There is no true tail, but the 

 dorsal and anal fins are confluent around the truncated hind end 

 of the body. There is no spinous dorsal fin, and pelvic fins are 

 wanting. The Sun-fishes are of wide distribution, and grow to a 

 great size. A large specimen of the Rough Sun-fish, Orthagoriscus 

 mola, obtained from Australia, hangs from the middle of the roof 

 at the northern end of the Gallery. A somewhat smaller specimen, 

 caught off Dungeness, hangs from the rail opposite Wall-case 8. 

 The small specimen (967) shown in Wall- case 20 was also caught 

 on the English coast. The Sun-fish is of particular interest^ 

 because, although recently the young larvae or Leptocephali of the 

 Common Eel have been caught by nets in the Atlantic Ocean, our 

 earlier knowledge of them was based mainly upon specimens found 

 in the stomachs of Sun-fishes caught on the Italian coast. The 



Fig. 96. — Oblong Sun-fish, Ranzania truncata. 



Oblong Sun-fish, Ranzania truncata, 968 (see fig. 96, and compare 

 with fig. 3, p. 11), differs from the Rough Sun-fish not only in 

 shape, but in possessing a smooth skin with hexagonal plates, 

 whereas the Rough Sun-fish has a rough, minutely granulatedskin. 



