The natural history of fishes, amphibians, & reptiles, or monocardian animals . the eel is capable of living out of the water a consider-able time—some say many days; and when the waters ofone of their haunts are dried up, they are well known tohave the power of making their way by land, during thenight, to other localities where water exists. They feed onalmost any thing—subsisting both upon living and deadanimals, and also on aquatic plants. The genus Alabesis particularly remarkable from having a small concavedisk between their pectoral fins ; so that the connectionbetween the eels and the
The natural history of fishes, amphibians, & reptiles, or monocardian animals . the eel is capable of living out of the water a consider-able time—some say many days; and when the waters ofone of their haunts are dried up, they are well known tohave the power of making their way by land, during thenight, to other localities where water exists. They feed onalmost any thing—subsisting both upon living and deadanimals, and also on aquatic plants. The genus Alabesis particularly remarkable from having a small concavedisk between their pectoral fins ; so that the connectionbetween the eels and the suckers (Cyclopteridce) is ren-dered complete. (194.) The circle of the Murcenidce contains by farthe greater number of the apodal fishes; and presentsus, under the general form of the eel, with a great di-versity of modifications. In the most perfect or typicaldivision, the sub-family Anguillince, or true eels, the pec-toral fins are always present, as in the conger (figAl.):. the head is depressed, the muzzle rather obtuse, and theteeth small: the branchial spiracle is in the form of aslit (a), placed just before the base of the pectoral fin,but rather below it; and the nostrils are always tubular ;the dorsal, caudal, and anal fins are united into one:but in the new genus Ariosoma Sw. the nostrils arenot tubular, and the branchial aperture is in front of the THE IttUR^ENID^;, OR EELS. 221 pectoral. Several of these fishes inhabit the Sicilianshores; and they are richly coloured with silver reflec-tions, very different from the lurid hues of the true extraordinary form is seen in our Leptognathusoxyrhynchut,- {jig. 42.), which immediately reminds us
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubj, booksubjectfishes, booksubjectreptiles
