OCR Text |
Show 196 PISCES. in the fore-part of the cranium, form.ed by the prolongation of the rethmoid, vomer, preopercula, mteropercula, pterygoi· dais and tympanals, and at the extremity of which is the mouth composed as usual of the intermaxillaries, maxillaries, and th~ palatine and mandibulary bones. Their intestine has neither great inequalities nor many folds, and their ribs are short or wanting. Some of them, the Fistularire, have a cylindrical body; in others, the Centrisci, it is oval and compressed. FisTULARIA, Lin. The name of these fishes, in particular, is derived from the tube common to the whole family. The jaws are at its extremity, slightly cleft in a nearly horizontal direction. This head, thus elongated, constitutes the third or fourth of the total length of the body, which is itself long and thin. There are six or seven rays in the branchire, and some bony appendages extend behind the head, upon the anterior part of the body, which they strengthen more or less. The dorsal is opposite to the anal; the stomach, resembling a fleshy tube, is continued in a straight canal, without duplicatures, to the commence· ment of which are attached two creca. In FISTULARIA, properly SO called, Or the FisTULARIA, Lacep., there is but a single dorsal, most of which, as well as of the anal, is composed of simple rays. The in· termaxillaries and the lower jaw are armed with small teeth. From between the two lobes of the caudal proceeds a filament which is sometimes as long as the body. The tube of the snout is very long and depressed, the natatory bladder excessively small, and the scales invisible. They are found in the seas of hot climates in both herni· spheres.(!) In the AuLosToMus, Lacep.(2) The dorsal is preceded by several free spines, and the jaws are with· out teeth; the very scaly and less slender body is widened and corn· pressed between the dorsal and the anal, and followed by a short and . ( 1) Fistularia tabacaria, Bl., 387, 1 ;-Fist. serrata, Id., lb., 2, are from Amer· 1<:a, Marcgr., 148, Catesb., II, xvii;-Fist. immact1lata, Commers., J, White, P· 296, f. 2, is from the Indian Ocean. (2) Jluloatomua, from ctti'-Oc and '"Op.«. ACA;NTHOPTERYGII. 197 very small tail, terminated by a common fin. The tube of the snout is shorter, thicker, and compressed; natatory bladder very large. But a single species is known; from the Indian Ocean.( 1) CENTRiscus, LIN.(2) In addition to the tubular snout of the family, the fishes of this genus have an oval or oblong (not elongated) body, compressed on the side, and trenchant beneath; branchire composed of but two or three slender rays; a first spinal dorsal and small ventrals behind the pectorals. The mouth is very small, and cleft obliquely; the intestine without creca, doubled three or four times, and the natatory bladder considerable. In CENTRisous, properly so called, The first spine of the anterior dorsal, which is placed very far back, is long and stout, and supported by an apparatus connected with the head and shoulder. They are covered with small scales an d have, bes.i des, some broad and dentated plates on the apparatus' just mentioned. C. scolopax, L.; Bl., 123.(3) A very common species in the Mediterranean, but a few inches long and of a silvery colour. AMPHISILE, Klein. The back mailed with broad scaly plates, of which the anterior spine of the first dorsal seems to be a continuation. ~o~e of them even have other scaly plates on the flanks, and the spme m question placed so far behind that it thrusts the second dorsal and anal towards the lower part of the tail. Such is the Centriacus scutatus, L., BI., 123, 2. Others are intermediate between this disposition and that of a common Centriscus. Their cuirass covers but the half of the back,Centriacua velitaris, Pall., Spic., VIII, iv, 8. Both these species are from the Indian Ocean. (1) Fistularia cltinemis, Bl., 388. (2) Centriscus, from '"Vtrtc. (3) It is also the Silurus cornutus, Forsk., the Macroramplwse, Lac. \ |