File:Natural history (1897) (20751221851).jpg

Title: Natural history
Identifier: cu31924001567506 (find matches)
Year: 1897 (1890s)
Authors: Lydekker, Richard, 1849-1915; Kirby, W. F. (William Forsell), 1844-1912; Woodward, Bernard Barham, 1853-1930; Kirkpatrick, R. (Randolph), b. 1863; Pocock, R. I. (Reginald Innes), 1863-1947; Sharpe, Richard Bowdler, 1847-1909; Garstang, Walter, 1868-1949; Bather, Francis Arthur, 1863-1934; Bernard, Henry Meyners
Subjects: Zoology
Publisher: New York, D. Appleton and company
Contributing Library: Cornell University Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 489 Fi(j. 19.—CorrEE-Fisn. The first family of the Plectogathi is represented by the file-fishes (Balistes, etc.) and the strange coffer-fishes (Osiracium). In these fishes there are a few separate teeth in the jaws, and traces of the spinous dorsal and pelvic fins usually persist. In form, the body Family- may be either compressed or angulated, and the muzzle is Balistidce. rather elongated ; the skin being either spiny or rough, or replaced by a bony armour. Their chief habitat is the tropical oceans, al- though some range into cooler seas. The Oriental genus Triacanthns belongs to a sub-family characterised by the presence of roughened scale-like plates on the skin, and the retention of from four to six spines in the first dorsal fin. On the other hand, £alistes is included in a sub-family in which there are never more than three spines in the fin last mentioned ; while the pelvic fina are absent, or indicated only by a swelling on the lower surface of the body ; the compressed body being clothed with scale-like plates capable of being moved, or with a roughened skin. There are several genera in this group, and the flesh of certain kinds is poisonous. Balistes itself, which is furnished with powerful cutting teetli in the front of tlie jaws, browses upon living coral, or eats through the shells of molluscs in order to get at the animal within. The angulated bony cara- pace—composed of hexagonal plates joined together like mosaic—sufficiently distinguishes the coffer-fishes (Ostracium), which constitute a sub-family by themselves. The second family includes the globe-fishes and their near allies the sun- fishes, in both of which the bones of the jaws are welded together so as to form a cutting parrot-like beak of great power. The teeth are modified into large dental plates tightly adherent to the Family jj,ws, and consisting structurally of a number of very thin Diodontidm. parallel laminte, arranged like the leaves in a book. These fishes are mostly inhabitants of the hotter seas, although a few have taken to a fresh-water existence. The one Oriental species of Triodon alone represents the first sub-family, and has the skin of the lower surface dilated into a large, inflatable sac; the dental plate of the upper-jaw being divided in the middle, while that of the lower is single. Spiny bony plates, which do not over- lap, clothe the body, and the tail-fin is forked. The globe-fishes (Diodon, Teirodon, etc.) form the second sub- family, and have the more or less shortened and rounded body covered with spines, while there is a distinct tail and caudal fin, and the distensible throat can be inflated with air. The difi'erent genera are chiefly distin- guished from one another by the con- formation of the dental plates, and the size and distribution of the spines. Dr. Giinther writes, that " these fishes have the power of inflating their body by filling their distensible oesophagus with air, and thus assume a more or less globular form. The skin is then stretched to its utmost extent, andthe spines protrude and form a more or less formidable defensive armour, as in a
Text Appearing After Image:
F\y. 20.—Globe-Fish.

Note About Images