PISCES ABDQMINALES. ESOX. 
59 
ESOX. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
Caput supra planiusculum: mandibula supe¬ 
rior e plana , hreviore: inferiore punctata. 
Dentes in rnaxillis , lingua. Membrana 
branchiostega radiis vii —xii. Corpus 
elongcitum. 
The head flattish above ; the upper man¬ 
dible plane, shorter : the lower dotted. 
Teeth in the jaws and tongue. The 
branchial membrane of vii. to xii. rays. 
The body elongate. 
No. CLXXIV. 
Esox maxilla inferior e longiore, oblique truncata; pinna prima dor soli spinosa , quinque 
radiata; caiula falcata. 
The Esox with the lower jaw longer than the upper, and obliquely truncate ; the first 
dorsal fin with five spinous rays: the tail falcate. 
Esox sphyrana Linn. S. J\ r . p. 5 15. 
Called by the Natives Jellow. 
5 
B. vii. D. 5. 10. P. 14. V. 6. A. 9. C. 20. 
The body long, straight, roundish, covered with scales proportionally small. 
The head long, conical, somewhat angular, with a long projecting rostrum; the crowil and front depressed, 
not smooth like the rest, and the rostrum has a ridge on each side. The mouth very large, a little oblique; 
the lips thin. The jaws projecting, of unequal length; the upper shorter than the under, which is obliquely 
truncate; both set with crooked teeth, not crowded, of dissimilar size, and one remarkably large in front of 
the under jaw. The tongue and palate denticulate. Eyes high, large, oval; nostrils at the root of the rostrum. 
The opercula large, rounded, both laminae squamous, the posterior terminates in two pointed flaps. The branchial 
membrane partly exposed; the aperture wide. 
The trunk. The back and abdomen straight; the sides convex ; the tail from the rise of the anal fin, some¬ 
what taper and compressed. The lateral line rising high, descends sloping to the middle of the trunk, then 
straight and middle. The anus remote. 
The fins. The first dorsal nearly scapular, has five declining spinous rays, in a groove, the second 
distant, lumbar, somewhat falcate, has ten ramous rays; the pectoral middle, short, acuminate; the ventral 
as long as the pectoral, but broader, and not pointed; the anal exactly like the second dorsal; the caudal 
falcate. 
The colour. The upper part of the head, and the trunk above the lateral fine, a darkish changeable green; 
the sides light-colour; the lower part of the head, the throat, and abdomen, a dull, not splendent, white. Near 
the lateral line, the dark colour (but less changeable than on the back) is continued a little across the line, 
forming a border indented with the light colour of the sides ; the dorsal, pectoral, anal, and caudal fins, are of 
a greenish yellow; the ventral white. 
