WRASSES. 
the Acanthopterygian series, though they are not of 
course in every respect qualified for this position. 
As is the case with organic life generally in the 
warmer regions of the earth, so in the tropical seas the 
Pharyngognates attain to their full development of form. 
« Anyone, » says Fries, »who is out fishing on our western 
coast and for the first time sees a wrasse taken on the 
hook, may fancy himself transported, as if by a stroke 
of magic, to tropical shores, and, watching in intense 
excitement, expect at the next bite to see one of the 
paradoxical creatures which so abound in those waters. 
But the illusion is soon past, vanishing as the line is 
pulled in, and is followed by nothing but an ordinary 
cod or flounder.» 
In their real native waters the Pharyngognates are 
very numerous in genera and species. As early as 1862 
Gunther described no less than 647 species, distributed 
among 4 families and 74 genera, and mentioned in 
addition a great many of which he had no personal 
knowledge. Very few of them, however, belong to the 
Scandinavian Fauna; and all the Scandinavian species 
fall under one family. 
Fam. l abridge. 
The form of the body perch-like , the scales cycloid, the soft-rayed part of the anal fin like that of the dorsal; 
the ventral fins thoracic with one spinous and 5 soft rays , the branchiostegcd rays 5 or 6\ the fourth row of 
branchial laminae simple, with no slit behind it, the pseudobranchice and air-bladder normal, the pedate without teeth , 
the jaw teeth strong. The pyloric appendages and the blind sac of the stomach are wanting. 
There is much in the form of the wrasses that 
reminds one of the genus Serranus among the perches, 
but the cycloid, edentulous, and comparatively thin scales 
and the toothless palate of the former separate them 
distinctly from the latter. Their teeth are strong, those 
of the jaws being pointed or sometimes rather obtuse; 
the pharyngeal teeth are blunt and often flat and crowd- 
ed like the stones of a pavement; the upper and lower 
sets work well against each other, as the upper pha- 
ryngeals articulate with the basilar part of the occipital 
bone. Thus the jaw-teeth seize the prey, while those 
of the pharyngeal s are used in grinding it. The dental 
equipment of the wrasses is indeed characteristic of their 
manner of life, as they live upon the crayfish and 
mollusks of the rocks and sea- weed, which they usually 
crush, though sometimes the shells are to be found 
intact in the digestive canal. The protractile jaws with 
the thick swollen lips which have given rise to the 
name 1 labroid ’ or hip-fish’ are also characteristic of their 
habits. That which enables us in most cases immediately 
to distinguish a wrasse, as well as other Pharyngognate 
Acanthopterygians, from a perch, is the prolongation of 
the fin-membrane into a flap behind the point of each 
spinous ray, the pinna ramentacea of Linnaeus. How- 
ever, this flap is said to be wanting in some species 
belonging to this family, while, on the contrary, it 
exists in several of the Serrani. The ventral fins are 
thoracic, i. e. they • lie a little farther back than the 
base of the pectoral fins; but the pelvic bones with 
which they articulate are long and project to the lower 
point of the clavicles, or the front end of the pectoral 
girdle. The fourth pair of branchial arches carries only 
one row of branchial laminae, and the slit, which other- 
wise separates this pair of arches from the lower pha- 
ryngeals and the back wall of the gill-orifice, is closed. 
The digestive canal is peculiarly simple: the stomach 
which in many forms is scarcely perceptible as a special 
enlargement of the canal, has no blind sac, and the 
pyloric appendages are 'wanting. 
The wrasses inhabit the seas of the hot and tem- 
perate regions and are not to be found within either 
the Arctic or Antarctic circle. They are among the 
chief ornaments of the coral reefs and the algse which 
fringe the solid rocks. Some species however are also 
to be found among weed and stones where the bottom 
is of a looser nature. They are neither pelagic nor 
deep-sea fish, and are not often to be met with in more 
than 30 fathoms. In disposition the wrasses are lively 
and sociable, though they congregate in small bodies 
only and not in real shoals. The male and female 
often differ very much in colour, and during the spawn- 
ing season the former are especially gay and showy. 
Their colouring is however very fugitive: their brilli- 
ancy, which in life is variable, entirely vanishes soon 
after death. A number of observations have been 
made which suggest that the monogamic principle is, 
to a certain extent, practised among these fish; each 
male is said to select and associate with his own fe- 
male, at least during the spawning season; and some 
species are said to build nests of seaweed for their 
