THE FISHES OF NEW JERSEY. 365 



Orbidus macnlatus Moore, Bull U. S. F. Com., XH, 1892, p. 



Tetraodon tiirgidus Baird, 9th An. Rep. Smiths Inst., 1854, 



p. 352. 



Gastrophystis turgidiis Abbott, Geol. N. J., 1868 p. 827. 

 Tetrodon turgidus Bean, Bull. U. S. F. Com., VII, 1887, p. 



Family DIODONTID^. 



The Porcupine Fishes. 



Body short, broad, depressed above. Caudal peduncle short 

 and slender. Eye rather large. Mouth moderate, terminal, each 

 jaw covered with a bony plate like beak of bird, these not divided 

 by median suture. Nostrils on each side forming a small ten- 

 tacle, usually with 2 openings. Gill-openings moderate, im- 

 mediately in front of pectorals. Belly moderately inflatable, cov- 

 ered every^vhere except on lips and caudal peduncle with spines, 

 which are usually 2-rooted or 3-rooted at their bony base. Dor- 

 sal and anal short, similar to each other, rounded in form and 

 placed posteriorly. 



Sluggish fishes living on the bottom among weeds and corals in 

 tropical seas. When disturbed they swallow air and float belly 

 upward on the water. Their capacity of inflation is very much 

 less than that of the TetrodontidcE, from which they differ chiefly 

 in the stronger armature and in having no division in the bony 

 plate of either jaw. They are rarely used as food, being gener- 

 ally regarded as poisonous. The species are well known in col- 

 lections, having attracted the attention of travellers in the earliest 

 times. Two species have been recorded from our shores. 



/■ 



Key to the genera. 



a. Each dermal ossification as a 2-rooted fine flexible spine, or hair-like 



bristle. trichodiodon 



aa. Each dermal ossification as usually a 3-rooted short stiff immovable 



spine. CHILOMYCTERUS 



