BARRACUDAS AND SAND-SMELTS. 
397 
the shore in the warmer months. Swimming with remarkable speed, it is enabled 
by the length of its pectorals to take considerable leaps above the surface of the 
water, and thus approaches the flying-fish. During stormy weather great numbers 
of these fishes are frequently stranded, when they are collected by the natives for 
the purpose of extracting the oil from them. 
Barracudas. 
Barracudas, Atherines, and Grey Mullets —Families Sphyejenibm, 
AtEEEJNIBjE, and MUGILIBAS. 
Following Dr. Gunther’s classification, these three families form a sectional 
group differing from those we have been considering by the position of the pelvic 
fins, which are abdominal, and have one spine and five soft rays. The two dorsal 
fins are situated more or less remote from one another, the first being either short, 
like the second, or composed of weak spines. 
The large and ferocious fishes commonly known as barracudas 
( Sphyrcena ), of which a species (S. vulgaris) is shown in the upper 
figure of the illustration on p. 379, are the sole existing representatives of the 
first family, which is distinguished by the elongated and subcylindrical form 
of the body, the large cutting-teeth, the continuous lateral line, and the presence 
of only twenty-four vertebrae in the backbone. The scales are small and cycloidal; 
the cleft of the mouth is wide; and the medium-sized eyes have a lateral position. 
Represented by something less than a score of species, barracudas are distributed 
over all temperate and tropical seas, but generally prefer the neighbourhood of 
the coast to the open ocean. They are all carnivorous and fierce in their dis¬ 
position, and since they frequently grow to 6 or 8 feet in length, they are as 
much or even more dreaded by bathers in seas where they are common than 
sharks. They are extensively caught for food, but in some instances, from their 
having fed on poisonous kinds of fish, their own flesh becomes impregnated with 
the venom. Moseley writes that “ there is a great fishery at the Cape, of a fish 
called snook, a kind of barracuda, which is salted and dried, and sent mainly to 
Mauritius for sale. The snook-boats were always to be seen about in the bay. 
The fish are caught with a hook and line whilst the boat is in motion. The 
fishermen are especially careful not to get bitten by the fish as they haul them in, 
wounds caused by their bite being said to fester in a violent manner, as if 
inflamed.” Fossil barracudas occur in the middle Eocene of Monte Bolca; while 
in the Cretaceous rocks of the Lebanon and Brazil the family is represented by 
the extinct genus Cladocyclus. 
The second family of the group under consideration is typically 
represented by the so-called sand-smelts; one of the two British 
species (Atherina hepsetus) being shown in the left figure of our illustration. 
As a family, the Atherinidce are distinguished from the barracudas by the 
indistinct lateral line; the feeble or moderately developed dentition; and by 
the number of vertebrae being usually in excess of twenty-four. The body is 
more or less elongate, with but slight compression. In the sand-smelts the scales 
are smooth and cycloid, and the teeth minute; the first dorsal fin is short and 
completely separate from the second; and the muzzle is blunt, with the cleft 
Sand-Smelts. 
