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Show 232 PISCES. wea k fi ns,-8 · Ophiodon ' Cu v.; Vana motta, Russe.l , 171, is em. ployed in India, when dried and salted, as a condiment.(!) SoorELtrs, Cuv .-SERPES, Risso.(2) Mouth and branchi<E deeply cleft; both jaws furnished .with very small teeth; edge of the upper jaw wholly formed .by the mtermax. illaries; tongue and palate smooth. The snout. 1s very sh.ort and obtuse; there are nine or ten ra!s in the ~ranch1re, and bes1des the ordinary dorsal, which is oppos1te to the 1~terv~l be~ween t~e ven· trals and anal, there is a very small one behmd, m wh1ch vestiges of rays are perceptible. . . These fishes are taken in the Mediterranean along w1th An· chavies, where they are called Melettes. One of them, Serpe Humbolt, Risso, pl. x, f. 38, is remarkable for the lustre of the silvery points arranged along the tail and abdomen.(3) AuLoPus, Cuv.( 4) The characters of a Salmon and Gadus united; the mouth well cleft; the intermaxillaries, which form the whole of its upper e~ge, the palatines, the anterior extremity of the vomer and the lower Jaw, furnished with a narrow band of teeth resembling those of a card; the tongue and level part of the ossa palati rough. The maxillaries are large and edentated, as is the case with the greater number of the class. The ventrals are almost under the pectorals, their external rays being stout and only forked; the first dorsal opposite to the an· terior half of the interval which separates it from the anal; twelve rays in the branchire; body, cheeks and opercula covered with large ciliated scales. One species, 8almo filamentosus, Bl., Berl. Schr., X, ix, 2, is found in the Mediterranean. (1) The Salmo microps, Lesueur, Ac. Nat. Sc. Philad., V, part I, pl. iii, if not the same species, is at least a closely allied one. It forms the genus HAnPODON of that naturalist, who considers it as having teeth in the vomer, but they are in the pharyngeals, and not in the vomer: the mistake has arisen from the extreme shortness ofthe snout. (2) ::Ixo?rtMc, the Greek name of an unknown fish. (3) I believe this fish to be the same as the pretended .IJ.rgentina sphyr(f}IUI. of Pennant, Brit. Zool., No.l56: thus it would also be found in our Ocean.-Add the Serpe crocodile, Risso, p. 357;-the Serpe balbo, Id., Ac. of Sc. Turin, Vol. XXV, pl. x, f. 3.-But the Serpe microstome, p. 356, certainly belongs to another genus, .and to the family of the Pikes. (4) Ahr,7ror, the Greek name of some unknown fish. MALACOPTEU.YGll ABDOMINALES. 233 STERNOPTYx, Herman. A genus of small fishes with a very elevated and compressed body, supported by the ribs; their mouth is directed upwards; their humerals form a trenchant crest in front, terminated below by a small spine, and the bones of the pelvis form another, also terminated by a small spine in front of the ventrals, which are so small as to have escaped the notice of the fi1·st observer. The1·e is a series of small fossul::e along each side of the pelvic ct·est which has been con· sidered as a festooned duplicature of the sternum, whence the name of Sternoptyx. Before their first dorsal is an osseous or membranous crest which belongs to the anterior interspinals, and behind that fin a slight membranous projection is visible, which represents the adipose fin of the Salmon; the sides of the mouth are formed by the maxillaries. Two species are found in the Atlantic, which may one day constitute the types of two separate genera. S. diaphana, Herman, N aturforscher, Fasc. XVI, pl. 8; copied Walbaurn, Arted. renov. tom. III, pl. 1, f. 2. Teeth small and crowded; five rays in the branchire; its form is singularly oblique, the mouth being out of a vertical line. 8. Olfersii, Cuv. Teeth hooked, and nine rays in the branchi:: e. Both these species are taken in the warm parts of the Atlantic Ocean.(l) FAMILY V. CLUPE..£. This family is easily recognized; there is no adipose fin; the upper jaw is formed, as in the Trouts, by intermaxi1laries without pedicles in the middle, and by the maxi1laries on the sides; the body is always covered with numerous scales, and in the greater number we find a natatory bladder and many creca. A part only of the family ascend rivers. The CLUPEA, Lin. Has two well marked characters in the narrow and short intermax- (l~ Our descriptions are drawn from nature. Herman refused to allow his ~peclmen branchial rays and ventrals, although it possesses both; it is still in ex· lstence at Strasbourg. We shall be mo1·e particular on this subject in our Icthyology. VoL. ll.-2 E \ |
