. Fishes. Fishes. Series Ostariophysi 383 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," vi^hich 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 niargin. With a few exceptions the Cyprinidcu are small and feeble fishes. They form most of the food of the predatory river
. Fishes. Fishes. Series Ostariophysi 383 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," vi^hich 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 niargin. With a few exceptions the Cyprinidcu are small and feeble fishes. They form most of the food of the predatory river fishes, and their great al'>undance in competition with these is due to their fecundity and their insignificance. They spawn profusely and find everywhere 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 creatures for a time the most beautifully colored of fishes. In spring and early summer 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 Chrosomiis, Notropis, and Rhinichthys are most highly colored. Rhodens, 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. 393.—Black-nosed Dace, Rhinichthys diilcis Girard. Yellowstone River. 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 images that may have been digitally enhanced
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