THE FISHES OF NEW JERSEY. 357 



temporal short, simple, forks obliterated, bone grown solidly to 

 skull and with no foramen. Vertebrae reduced, 17. Dorsal fins 

 2, anterior of II or III spines, first highest, very strong, second 

 locking it in erection. Second dorsal remote from first, of many 

 soft rays. Caudal rounded or forked. Ventrals wanting, their 

 place occupied by a single stout thick spine at end of very long 

 usually movable pubic bone. 



Shore-fishes of the tropical seas of rather large size, carniv- 

 orous or partly herbivorous, and very rarely used as food for 

 many are reputed poisonous. One species on our shores. 



Genus Batistes Linnaeus. 



The Trigger Fishes. 

 Balistes carolinensis Gmelin. 



Plate 74. 



Trigger Fish. File Fish. 



Gill-opening with a number of enlarged bony plates or scutes 

 posteriorly, teeth unequal, oblique and each one deeply notched. 

 Dorsal and anal falcate in adult. Caudal peduncle unarmed. 



A tropical species occasionally on our coast. 



Balistes carolinensis Moore, Bull. U. S. F. Com., XII, 1892, 



p. 363. 



Capriscus fuliginosus Abbott, Geol. N. J., 1868, p. 826. 



Family MONACANTHID^. 



The File Fishes. 



Body much compressed. Upper jaw with a double series of 

 incisor-like teeth, 6 in outer and 4 in inner series. Lower jaw 

 with 6 similar teeth in a single series. No barbel. Vertebrae 

 7+ II to 14=18 to 21. Body covered with very small rough 

 scales forming a velvety covering. Males sometimes with spines 

 on caudal peduncle. First dorsal with a single strong spine and 

 generally a rudimentary one behind it. Second dorsal long, 



