273 MALACOPTERYGII. MUR^ENAD^. 
Tlie Bearded Ophidium {Ophidium harhatum^ 
Linn.) is a native of the Mediterranean, but is 
said to have occurred on the coast of Britain. It 
OPHIDIUM. 
grows to eight or nine inches in length, and is of 
a silvery flesh-colour, slightly mottled with brown. 
It feeds on small Ashes and Crustacea ; its flesh, 
though eaten, is in little esteem, being coarse and 
ill-flavoured. 
Family XI. Mur^nad^. 
{Eels,) 
Like the preceding Family the, Eels have a 
serpent-like body, lengthened, and more or less 
cylindrical. They are covered with a thick, soft, 
slimy skin, in which their scales are deeply im- 
bedded, and scarcely to be detected. The oper- 
culum and gills are concealed ; the former being 
covered with the common skin, while the gill- 
aperture is very small, and placed far back. 
Hence, on the principle already explained, these 
Ashes are capable of surviving a protracted depri- 
vation of their ordinary element. The ventral 
Alls are always wanting; as are sometimes the 
pectorals ; the dorsal and anal are lengthened, 
and frequently united to the caudal, or united to 
the exclusion of the caudal. All the flns are 
