CORY] 
Tin’s fifh is faid by Pliny to accompany vefTels for feve- 
ral hours when failing on their voyage, and will not leave 
them even though threatened with deftruftion by the 
failors. It is an inhabitant of the open fea, and is eafily 
diftinguifhed by a broad curved line, proceeding from 
the gills to the tail. Above this line the body is varie¬ 
gated with a number of yellow fpots ; below it, towards 
the belly, the fidea. are marked with tranfverfe dotted 
line's. Above the eyes is a large fpot of a gold colour. 
8. Coryphaena plittacus, the parrot-filh : fpecific cha¬ 
racter, the lateral line interrupted with bright longitu¬ 
dinal ftripes on the fins : the dorfal fin has twenty-nine 
rays, the peftorals eleven, the ventrals fix, the anal fix- 
teen, the tail fourteen. The parrot-fiih has a large mouth, 
paved as it were with blunt teeth, clofely connected, af¬ 
ter the manner of the lupus marinus. The body is co¬ 
vered with large green fcales ; the eyes are red and yel¬ 
low ; the upper part of the head brow n, the lower part 
and the gills blue, bordered with dufky red ; a fixeak of 
red extends from the throat behind the gills, at the upper 
end of which is a bright yellow fpot. The fins are five 
in number, one extending almolt the length of the back, 
of a bay or cinnamon colour ; there are two behind the 
gills, blended with black, green, and purplifh, colours, 
with the upper edge bordered with blue ; under the ab¬ 
domen is another red fin bordered with blue ; under the 
anus extends a long narrow green fin, with a line of red 
through the middle of it; at the bafis of the tail on each 
fide is a large yellow fpot. The tail is large, forked, and 
green, with a red curved line running through the mid¬ 
dle parallel to the curve, and ending in two points. 
About the* middle of the trunk, towards the back, ap¬ 
pears a fpot in the fhape of a diamond, which fhines with 
all the colours of the rainbow ; at lead we can diflindlly 
difcriminate, red, yellow’, green, blue, and purple. This 
fifh is more efteemed for beauty than the delicacy of its 
tafie. They are taken on the coafts of Hifpaniola, Cuba, 
and the Bahama ifiands. . 
9. Coryphaena equifelis, the, horfetail coryphena : its 
fpecific character is a forked tail, and fifty-three rays in 
the dorfal fin; there are fix rays in the membrane of the 
gills, nineteen in the pectoral fin, lix in the ventral, 
twenty-three in the anal, and twenty in the tail. This 
fpecies refembles the hippurus in many refpedts : but 
the golden fpots appear only on the upper part of the 
body and tail ; and the gill-covert confifts of two plates 
or pieces. In agility, voracity, and other natural habits, 
it differs very little, and is found in molt warm and tem¬ 
perate feas. 
10. Coryphaena chryfurus, the golden-tail coryphena: 
fpecific character, tail forked, fifty-eight rays in the dor- 
lal fin: the membrane of the gills has fix rays, the pec¬ 
torals twenty, the thoracics or ventrals fiye, the anal 
twenty-eight, the tail fifteen. This elegant fpecies was 
obferved by Commerfon in the Pacific or Great Equato¬ 
rial Ocean, in lat. 16 0 . Ion. 170 0 . towards the end of 
April 1768, in company with that celebrated navigator 
Bougainville. It bears, at firft fight, much refemblance 
to the- hippurus ; but the following defcription will dif¬ 
fidently difiinguifh them. The whole furface of this fifh, 
but more efpecially the tail, gliftens like burnifhed gold ; 
fome fhades of filver alfo appear on the bread and belly ; 
and a few tints of fky-blue fport amid the gilded reflec¬ 
tions of the back. A mod delicate blue appears on the 
fins, efpecially the dorfal and pedlorals ; part of the rays 
4>f the ventrals are yellow’, and gold is mixed with blue 
on the anal ; a flight edging or frame of blue runs round 
the tail-fin, which otherwife liiines like beaten gold. To 
complete the beauty of this fpecies, a number of blue 
lenticular fpots are irregularly ftrewed on the back, fides, 
and belly, which glittering amid the gold colour, gives 
the idea of fo many lapphires fet in that mod: precious 
metal. The body is long and much comprefied, cari- 
nated from head to tail above, and beneath from the tail 
to the anus. The front and upper part of the head form 
’ H M N A. 251 
a quarter of a circle, terminating above in a fliarp bone. 
The lower jaw rifes upward, and is the longed; ; each 
jaw is a Angle bone, befet with very fmall fharp teeth, 
not clofe together, but fomewhat like a comb, and very 
different from thofe of the hippurus; there are two tu¬ 
bercles with very fmall teeth crowded upon them near 
the inner corner of the upper jaw, three fimilar clufters 
in the middle of the palate, and a fixth at the entrance 
of the throat. The tongue is broad, but fliort, rounded 
before, bony in the middle, cartilaginous at the rims. 
The mouth is not large ; the noftrils have a double ori¬ 
fice on each fide, the anterior one included in a kind of 
annular membrane. The head and the gill-coverts are 
furniflied with fmall fcales; the covert is double, the 
front pfiece rounded behind, the other lengthening to¬ 
wards the tail, but fometimes a little bent. The mem¬ 
brane of the gills is fupported on each fide by fix flat 
rays ; underneath appear four gills, very red, each formed 
of two rows of long filaments ; the concave part of the 
firft and fecond rows is dentated like a comb ; the third 
and fourth have only fmall afpcrities. The dorfal fin 
begins over the eyes, and ftretches tapering infenfibly to 
the tail. The anus is near the middle ■of the body ; be¬ 
tween that orifice and the bale of the ventral fin a fmall 
longitudinal furrow appears. The lateral line arifes over 
the branchial aperture, bends round the pedtoral fin, and 
then is continued with very flight undulations to the 
caudal fin. The fcales are long, rounded, frnooth, and 
ftrongly adherent. In habits and voracity this refembles 
the hippurus. The ftomach is long and membranous; 
Commerfon found it filled with flying-filh, and other 
fmall fpecies; he perceived alfo feveral fmall thread-like 
worms, moving about in a kind of pafle or chyle in the 
ftomach. This fifh was twenty-eight inches in length. 
The feamen, when they catch one, hang it over the prow 
of the veffel, fo that it may appear alive : this attracts 
many .of the fame fpecies, and then they catch them by 
linking them with prongs. Commerfon adds, that it is 
excellent eating, and is dfefled various ways, but chiefly 
with butter and capers. 
11. Coryphaena fcomberoides, the fpotlefs or filvery 
coryphena : its fpecific charafter, no teeth in front of 
the palate, no fpots on the body or tail; the membrane 
of the gills has fix rays, the dorfal fifty-five, the pedlo- 
rals eighteen, the ventrals fix, the anal twenty-five, the 
tail (which is bifurcated) fifteen. For this fpecies, alfo, 
we are indebted to Commerfon, who difeovered it in the 
South Sea, S. lat. 18°. Ion. 134°. in March 1768, and at 
no great diftance from the place where he obferved the 
preceding. In length it is midway between a herring 
and a mackrel. It is entirely of a bright filvery colour, 
quite pure on the fides and belly, but mixed with brown 
and fky-blue on the back, and with dark blue and gold 
on the head, round the eyes, and on the gill-coverts. 
The fins are brown, except the ventrals, which are 
white outwardly, and the pedlorals which are fomewhat 
gilt. The upper jaw is the fhortefl; both are furniflied 
with fuch a quantity of fmall teeth, bent back, that they 
look like files, and the fifii may be eafily kept fufpeiided 
by one finger introduced into the mouth. The tongue 
is remarkably fhaped, being fomewhat like a finger nail ; 
it is broad, rounded before, but yet making an angle on 
each fide of the front; in the middle appears a bone 
altnoft fquare, covered with minute teeth bent towards 
the throat; its circumference is formed by a cartilage 
diminifhing outwards ; and a broad thick fraenum con¬ 
fines it beneath. There are fome fmall rough tubercles 
near the entrance of the gullet, but the'refl of the pa¬ 
late is entirely frnooth. Each gill-covert confifts of two 
pieces, broad, frnooth, and rounded backwards. The 
lateral line has various bendings, which become lefs ap¬ 
parent towards the caudal fin. The ventral fins are 
united at their bafe by a membrane, which runs alfo 
along a furrow under the belly, in which the fifh can 
hide thefe fins at plealure. The tail is very fharply ca- 
* rinated 
