SEA-BREAMS. 
95 
fins are always pointed, and the caudal forked; 
characters which indicate the power of swift pro- 
gression through the water. 
The colours of the Marine Breams are gene- 
rally elegant without being showy; silvery grey 
or pearly white, varied occasionally with gilded 
or brassy reflections, and flushed with iridescent 
! hues of rose-red, pale blue, green, and yellow, 
may be considered as characteristic of the Family. 
|i The fins, however, are destitute of colour, or are 
tinged only with dusky -brown. 
From the structure of their teeth, it might be 
inferred that these fishes were predatory, and that 
ii their food often presented itself in a form which 
1 required great crushing and grinding force. And 
i this is indeed the case, Crustacea and mollusca, 
; but especially the latter, affording them the main 
i part of their sustenance ; both of these classes 
I comprising animals encased in crusts or shells, 
often of stone-like hardness. The common Gilt- 
I head {Chrysophrys aurata^ Cuv.), for example, is 
I able to crush and grind to powder, with its power- 
j ful millstone-like teeth, the thick stony shells of 
the genera Turbo, Buccinum, and Trochus, the 
Periwinkles, Whelks, and Tops, of our rocky 
; shores. 
I The Family is extensive, comprising, according 
to the latest estimate, two hundred and forty spe- 
cies, of which number nearly one-tenth belong to 
the European coasts ; the rest are distributed over 
the shores of both hemispheres, their prevalence 
increasing as we approach the tropics, 
f In the larger Families of animals it is desirable 
i to have subdivisions of a rank higher than that 
of genera ; and there are always found on exami- 
