. A guide to the study of fishes. Fishes; Zoology; Fishes. 164 Series Ostariophysi they may be hooked at tip in those which eat smaller fishes; they may be serrated or not; they may have an excavated " grinding surface," wrhich is most developed in the species which feed on mud and have long intestines. In the CyprinidcB, or carp family, the barbels are small or wanting, the head is naked, the caudal fin forked, the mouth is toothless and without suck- ing lips, and the premaxillaries form its entire margin. With a few exceptions the CyprinidcE are small and feeble fishes. They form
. A guide to the study of fishes. Fishes; Zoology; Fishes. 164 Series Ostariophysi they may be hooked at tip in those which eat smaller fishes; they may be serrated or not; they may have an excavated " grinding surface," wrhich is most developed in the species which feed on mud and have long intestines. In the CyprinidcB, or carp family, the barbels are small or wanting, the head is naked, the caudal fin forked, the mouth is toothless and without suck- ing lips, and the premaxillaries form its entire margin. With a few exceptions the CyprinidcE are small and feeble fishes. They form most of the food of the predatory river fishes, and their great abundance in competition with these is due to their fecundity and their insignificance. They spawn profusely and find ever5rwhere an abundance of food. Often they check the increase of predatory fish by the destruction of their eggs. In many of the genera the breeding color of the males is very brilliant, rendering these little creatiires for a time the most beautifully colored of fishes. In spring and early s-ummer the fins, sides, and head in the males are often charged with pig- ment, the prevailing color of which is rosy, though often satin- white, .orange, crimson, yellow, greenish, or jet black. Among American genera Chrosomus, Notropis, and Rhinichthys are most highly colored. Rhodeus, Rutilus, and Zacco in the Old World are also often very brilliant. In very many species, especially in America, the male in the breeding season is often more or less covered with Fig. 123.— Dace, Rliiniclithi/s dulcis Girard. 1 elloAvstone Piiver. grayish tubercles or pearly bodies, outgrowths of the epidermis. These are most numerous on the head and fall off after the breeding season. They are most developed in Campostoma. The CyprinidcB are little valued as food-fishes. The carp, largely domesticated in small ponds for food, is coarse and. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page im
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