HERRINGS. 
m 
near the middle of the hack. The body is more 
compressed than in the Salmons^ and in most of 
the genera the belly is very thin, forming a sharp 
edge, frequently cut into saw-like notches, by the 
projecting scales, the points of which are directed 
backwards. 
The mouth is small and oblique, either furnished 
with minute teeth, or altogether destitute of these 
organs ; the lips are very thin. The opening of 
the gills is more than usually wide ; hence, by a 
law already alluded to^ the Herrings can survive 
a removal from the water for only a very brief 
period. The common Herring and Pilchard are 
said to die in a few minutes after being caught. 
The stomach is a lengthened sac ; the intestines 
are furnished with many cceca; and there is gene- 
rally a long and pointed air-bladder. 
The skeleton of fishes generally consists of a 
greater number of bones than that 
of other animals. The ribs are 
long and slender spines, but there 
are many other bones besides the 
ribs, supernumerary, or rather 
accessory, spines, which spring 
from the bases of the ribs, and 
other parts of the vertebrce. In 
the Herring family these spinous 
appendages are peculiarly deve- 
loped ; for they are long, and at- 
tached not only to the rib-bases, 
but to each of the spinous pro- 
cesses of the vertelrce, so that each 
of these j oints carries three pairs of 
accessory spines, besides a series of slender diverg- 
ing bones that run along the line of the abdomen. 
