File:Fishes (1907) (20566177038).jpg

Title: Fishes
Identifier: cu31924002864753 (find matches)
Year: 1907 (1900s)
Authors: Jordan, David Starr, 1851-1931
Subjects: Fishes
Publisher: New York, H. Holt and Company
Contributing Library: Cornell University Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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The Dissection of the Fish 29 the canines are in front. In some families the last tooth in either jaw may be a "posterior canine," serving to hold small animals in place while the anterior teeth crush them. Canine teeth are often depressible, having a hinge at base. Teeth very slender and brush-like are called setiform. Teeth with blunt tips are molar. These are usually enlarged and fitted for crushing shells. Flat teeth set in mosaic, as in many rays and in the pharyngeals of parrot-fishes, are said to be paved or tessellated. Knife-like teeth, occasionally with serrated edges, are found in many sharks. Many fishes have incisor-like teeth, some flattened and truncate like human teeth, as in the sheepshead, sometimes with serrated edges. Often these teeth are movable, implanted only in the skin of the lips. In other cases they are set fast in the jaw. Most species with movable teeth or teeth with ser- rated edges are herbivorous, while strong incisors may indicate the choice of snails and crabs as food. Two or more of these different types may be The knife-like teeth of the sharks are progressively shed, new ones being constantly formed on the inner margins of the jaw, so that the teeth are marching to be lost over the edge of the jaw as soon as each has fulfilled its function. In general the more distinctly a species is a fish- eater, the sharper are the teeth. Usually fishes show little dis- crimination in their choice of food; often they devour the young of their own species as readily as any other. The digestive process is rapid, and most fishes rapidly increase in size in the process of development. When food ceases to be abundant the fishes grow more slowly. For this reason the same species will grow to a larger size in large streams than in small ones, in lakes than in brooks. In most cases there is no absolute limit to growth, the species growing as long as it lives. But while some species endure many years, others are certainly very short-
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FiG. 18.—Jaws of a Parrot- fish, Sparisoma aurofrenalum (Val). Cuba. found in the same fish.

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