304 
PISCES. 
Anahas, the Chinbing' Perch of India. This genus has the labyrinths highly complicated; the third pharyngi 
have pavement teeth, and tliere are others behind the cranium; the body is round in the section, and covered with 
strong scales ; the head is large, the muzzle short 
and blunt, and the mouth small ; their lateral line 
is interrupted for the posterior third ; the margins 
of the operculum, super -operculum, and inter- 
operculum, are strongly toothed, but there are 
no teeth in the pre-operculum ; their gills have 
five rays ; they have many spinous rays in the 
dorsal and anal ; and their stomach is of middle 
size, rounded, and with three coecular appendages 
to the pyrolus. Only one species is known, which 
not only quits the water, and moves over banks, 
but is said by Daldorf to climb bushes and trees, by means of its dorsals and the spines on the gill-lids ; but 
others dispute the latter power. This species is very common in India. 
Poly acanthus, has the spinous rays as numerous as the last genus, or even more so ; and the same mouth, scales, 
and interrupted lateral line, but the gill-lid is not toothed ; the body is compressed ; there are four rays in the 
gills, a narrow band of small crowded teeth in the jaws, but no palatal teeth; the labyrinths are less complicated, 
and the pyrolus has only two ccecular appendages. 
Macropodus, differs from the last in having the dorsal less extended, and that in the caudal and ventral ending 
in slender points ; the anal is also larger than the dorsal. 
Hesostoma, have a small compressed mouth, so protractile as to advance from and retreat to the suborbitals ; 
they have small teeth on the lips, and some on the jaws of the palate ; five gill-rays, on the arches of which, to- 
wards the mouth, there are lamellae resembling the external ones ; the stomach is small, and has only two pyrolic 
coeca, but their intestine is long ; the air-bladder is very stout. 
Osphromanus [so called from a conjecture, apparently erroneous, that the labyrinths of the pharynx are organs 
of smell], resembles Polyacanthus, but has the forehead concave ; the anal longer than the dorsal; the suborbitals, 
and inferior edge of the pre-operculum, finely toothed ; the first soft ray of the ventrals very long ; six gill-rays ; 
the body much compressed. One species, O. alfax, grows as large as a turbot, and is considered more delicious. 
It has been introduced into ponds in the Isle of France and Cayenne, where it thrives well. The female, as in 
many other species of fish, digs a cavity in the sand for the reception of her eggs. 
Trichopodus, has the forehead more convex than the last, a shorter dorsal, and only four gill-rays. The only 
known species is a small fish from the Oriental Isles, of a brownish colour, with a dark spot on the side. 
SpirohrancMis, resembles Anabas, but has no teeth on the gill-lids, but teeth in the palate. The only known 
species is a minute fish of Southern Africa. 
Ophicephalus, like the rest of the family in most of its characters, especially in the pharyngeal labyrinth, and 
can creep for some distance over land ; but it differs from all other Acanthopterygii in having no spines in the 
fins, except a short one on the first of the ventrals. The body is long, and nearly cylindrical; the head flat, and 
covered with polygonal plates ; the dorsal extends nearly the whole length ; the anal is also long, and the caudal 
round it ; they have five gill-rays ; the stomach is obtuse, with moderately long coeca ; and the abdominal cavity 
extends nearly to the base of the caudal. They are found in India and China, of various species, and different 
sizes. In the former country, the jugglers, and even the children, amuse themselves by making it crawl along 
upon dry gi’ound ; and in China, the larger ones are cut up alive for sale in the markets. 
[All the genera and species of this family are fresh-water fishes ; and they have not hitherto been 
found except in the south-east of Asia and the adjacent islands, and in Southern Africa.] 
THE ELEVENTH FAMILY OF THE ACANTHOPTERYGII. 
Mugilid^ (the Mullet Family). 
This family consists of the following three genera : — 
Mugil, the Mullet, properly so called, [which must not, however, be confounded with the Red 
Mullets, either plain or striped, which are included in the Perch family]. Their organization has so 
many peculiarities that they might be formed into a separate family. Their body is nearly cylindrical, 
covered with large scales, two separate dorsals with only four spinous rays in the first, and the ventrals 
are a little in rear of the pectorals. Their head is a little depressed, covered with large angular scaly 
plates ; their muzzle is short ; their form is an angle, in consequence of a prominence at the middle of 
the lower jaw ; and their teeth are very small, and in some almost imperceptible. They have six 
gill-rays ; the bones of the pharynx give an angular form to the gullet ; their stomach terminates in a 
fleshy gizzard, resemhling that of a bird ; they have few coecal appendages, but the intestinal canal is 
long and doubled. They are gregarious, resorting to the mouths of rivers in large troops, and con- 
stantly leaping up out of the water. [They feed in part upon small Crabs and other Crustacea, which 
Fig. 139 _ — Aiiiibas. 
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