Volume 1

The history of British fishes / [Robert Hamilton].

  • Hamilton, Robert, M.D.
Date:
[1876]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The history of British fishes / [Robert Hamilton]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    378/392 (page 310)
    XII. FAMILY OF PIPE-MOUTHED FISHES FISTULARID.E. Representative in British Fauna. Gen. 50. Ckntriscus. Sp. .04. f'. .scu/ojaa.r. The Trnnipet-iish. With the Piped-mouthed Fishes \ve reach, accord- ing to the arrangement we are observing, the last family of the former subdivision—the Spinous- rayed—of the First great Scries, or the Osseous Fishes. As its name implies, this family is charac- terized by a long tube, formed in part by the pro- longation of various bones of the head and face, at the extremity of which is placed the mouth, com- posed of its usual bony and soft parts : the ribs also are very short or wanting. The family is subdi- vided into two: the Fistularia, with a cylindrical body; and the Centriscus, in which it is oval and compressed. The Trumpet-fish belongs to the latter of these subdivisions. It has the tubular muzzle^ the characteristic of the family, with the body oval and oblong; it has only two or three slender gill- rays, a spinous dorsal fin, and small ventrals behind the pectorals. The mouth is very small, and opens obliquely; the air-bladder is considerable in size. Gen. L. Centriscus. The members of this cenus have the anterior dorsal placed far back, -wath its first spine-ray long, strong, and supported by an apparatus which connects it with the shoulder and