S CORPSE N OIDS . 
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Genus 
SCORP^ENA. 
Form of the body like that of the Perch- or the Pope. Interorbital space and , in most cases, the top of the head 
and the occiput concave. Supraorbital spines and parietal ridges well marked. Preopercular spines, as a rule, 5, 
opercular 2. Scales of the body slightly ctenoid or cycloid, wanting or very small on the maxillary bones. Eyes 
middle-sized ( even small) or large. Dorsal fin continuous, with 12 strong spinous rays' 1 , anal with 3. Car diform 
teeth on the Inver jaw, the inter maxillary bones, the vomer and, as a rule, on the palatine bones. Branchiostegal 
rays 7. Vertebra ? from 24 to 26. No air-bladder. 
The true Scorpamoids belong to the shores of the 
tropic seas, where they live among the seaweed, which 
they closely resemble in appearance, both in their 
highly variable coloration and in the foliate dermal 
flaps which fringe the superior orbital margin and the 
lateral line on the sides of the body in particular. 
They sometimes bury themselves in the sand, an ope- 
ration in which they are helped, according to Gun- 
ther 6 , by the strong and simple, lower rays of the 
pectoral fins. They have an evil reputation on account 
of the painful wounds inflicted by their spines; but 
they are said not to be really poisonous. The transi- 
tion from these typical Scorpaenoids, to which genus 
Gunther assigns 40 species, to Sebastes may be traced, 
as we have mentioned above, through intermediate forms 
with scarcely a single missing link. The deep-sea fish 
of this genus which belongs to the Norwegian fauna, 
ranges itself among just these intermediate forms. It 
is without the naked depression on the top of the head 
and on the occiput, and entirely without free dermal 
flaps; the cheeks are densely covered with scales, and 
there is sometimes a narrow band of accessory scales 
on the maxillary bones; and the number of soft rays 
in the dorsal fin is greater than in the most typical 
Scorpaenoids. For this reason Poey c gave the species a 
special generic name, Pontinus. In the Scandinavian 
fauna, however, where the number of species is so small, 
it may well retain its original name. 
a According to v. Duben and Koren Sc. dactyloptera sometimes, though seldom, has 13 spinous rays in the dorsal fin. 
b Fische der Sildsee (Mus. Godeffr.), p. 74; Introd. Study of Fishes , p. 414; Handh. Ichthyol., p. 291. 
c Memorias Cuba, II (1860), p. 172 (according to Joed., Gilb.). 
Scandinavian Fishes. 
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