. Natural history. Zoology. Fig. -Angler Fish (JjOiphius piscatorius). ported by a prolongation of some of the bones of the internal skeleton. The teeth are rasp-like or villous, and there is no connection between the preo- percular and the orbit. The apertures of the gills are very minute, and situated near the root of the pelvic fins, the gills varying from two-and-a- haK to three-and-a-half in number, and false gills being usually absent. The family has an almost cosmopolitan distribution, and all its members are but poor swimmers, those which are of pelagic habits drifting about attac
. Natural history. Zoology. Fig. -Angler Fish (JjOiphius piscatorius). ported by a prolongation of some of the bones of the internal skeleton. The teeth are rasp-like or villous, and there is no connection between the preo- percular and the orbit. The apertures of the gills are very minute, and situated near the root of the pelvic fins, the gills varying from two-and-a- haK to three-and-a-half in number, and false gills being usually absent. The family has an almost cosmopolitan distribution, and all its members are but poor swimmers, those which are of pelagic habits drifting about attached to floating bodies, while the littoral forms cling to submarine bodies by means of their pectoral fins, which serve the function of arms. The great size of the wide, flat, and rounded head, which carries the small eyes near the middle of the upper surface, the capa- cious mouth, and the modification of the first three dorsal spines into tentacles, serve to distinguish the species of the typical genus Lophius, which are not numerous. Rarely the common British species, which is often known as the fishing-frog, grows to five feet, although its ordinary length does not exceed three. The first tentacle bears a filamentous appendage, which by its movement serves to attract prey within reach of the capacious jaws. Another interesting member of the family is the pelagic tentacle-fish—Antennarias—often found in the gulf- weed, and remarkable for building a silken nest attached to the weed for the reception of the eggs, which are suspended within their receptacle in a cluster, like a bunch of grapes. Even more curious are the two Atlantic species of Melanocetus,vrhioh are small fishes, looking as if they consisted mainly of jaws and stomach. The Gottidce, of which the best known representatives are the mostly fresh- water bull-heads (Cottus) of the Northern Hemisphere and the marine- gurnards (Trigla), are well characterised by the presence of a bony stay connecting the preopercu
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Keywords: ., bookauthorly, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology
