342 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



tion and proved excellent food. The cause of mortality was un- 

 known, but Professor Baird was of the opinion that concussion 

 caused by terrific storms, which raged off the banks, might prob- 

 ably account for it. 



Sub-Order PHARYNGOGNATHI. 



The Labroid Fishes. 



Tropical fishes, mostly large, with bright colors and strong 

 dentition. 



Key to the families. 



a. Lower pharyngeals T-shaped or Y-shaped, their teeth conical or tuber- 

 cular ; teeth usually not confluent ; carnivorous, and sexes often dissimilar. 



LABRID.^ 



aa. Lower pharyngeals spatulate or basin-shaped, their teeth broadest trans- 

 versely and truncate, arranged in mosaic ; teeth in jaws more or less 

 perfectly confluent, forming a sort of beak; herbivorous, and sexes col- 

 ored alike. scARiDiB 



Family LABRID^. 



The Wrasse Fishes. 



Body oblong or elongate. ]\Iouth moderate, terminal. Pre- 

 maxillaries protractile. Maxillaries without supplemental bone, 

 slipping under membranaceous edge of preorbital. Anterior 

 teeth in jaws usually very strong and canine-teeth. Teeth of 

 jaws separate or soldered together at base, not forming a con- 

 tinuous plate. No teeth on vomer or palatines. Lips thick, 

 longitudinally plicate. Nostrils round, with 2 openings on each 

 side. Gill-membranes somewhat connected, sometimes joined to 

 narrow isthmus. Gills 3}^, a slit behind last arch small or obso- 

 lete. Pseudobranchi^ well developed. Branchiostegals 5 or 6. 

 Lower pharyngeals completely united into i bone, without median 

 suture, this bone T-shaped or Y-shaped, its teeth conical or 

 tubercular. Air-vessel present. No pyloric coeca. Body covered 

 with cycloid scales. Lateral line well developed, continuous or 

 interrupted, often angularly bent. Dorsal fin continuous, spinous 



