376 MITCHILL ON THE FISHES OF NEW-YORK. 



sive, and likewise smooth. Both jaws beset with sharp white teeth, 

 huddled in the front of each into two or three rows. The throat is 

 very wide, and beset with two patches of teeth above the pharynx, and 

 two rows beneath. The nostrils are tubular. 



The gill membrane has six rays; it is united below, and opens back- 

 ward toward the pectoral fin by a moderate slit. All the fins are 

 covered by the common skin ; and they are wholly destitute of spines 

 and indurated processes of every kind. The eyes are approximated, 

 rather small, and brownish. The snout is convex and fleshy ; but 

 not crested. The cheeks are puffed or pouched. 



The colour olive, inclining somewhat to yellowish, interspersed with 

 dusky clouds, along the back and sides ; the belly paler, with a tinc- 

 ture of reddish. The front dusky, with smutty dashes over the cheeks, 

 and a spot as large as a half dollar or more, on each side, between the 

 eye and the gill cover. 



The dorsal fin begins at the back of the neck, and is continued 

 round in connexion with the caudal and anal, until it almost reaches the 

 vent, which is nearer the head than the tail, and is only eleven inches 

 from the extreme point of the upper jaw. These fins have somewhat 

 of a greenish hue ; and are fringed with a margin of orange, that is 

 yellowish above, and ruddy beneath. There is, however, a break in 

 the dorsal fin near the tail, and there the rays are short and spinous to 

 the number of eight or nine. 



From the broad head and flabby lips, the body becomes lanceolate, 

 and tapers away, after the manner of cod fishes and eels toward the tail. 

 The pectoral fins are obliquely rounded, large, and orange-coloured 

 toward the middle and lower extremities. The ventral fins not more 

 than three quarters of an inch long, situated near each other, two 

 rayed, blunt, and orange coloured. 



