Page:An Introduction to the Study of Fishes.djvu/65

Rh which it is nearly symmetrical it is frequently prolonged into an upper and lower lobe, its hind margin being concave or more or less deeply excised; in others the hind margin is rounded, and when the middle rays greatly exceed in length the outer ones the fin assumes a pointed form.

Many and systematically important differences are observed in the dorsal fin, which is either spiny-rayed (spinous) (Acanthopterygian), or soft-rayed (Malacopterygian). In the former, a smaller or greater number of the rays are simple and without transverse joints; they may be flexible, or so much osseous matter is deposited in them that they appear hard and truly spinous (Fig. 3); these spines form always the anterior portion of the fin, which is detached from, or continuous



with, the remaining jointed rays. The spines can be erected or depressed at the will of the fish; if in the depressed position the spines cover one another completely, their points lying in the same line, the fish is called homacanth; but if the spines are asymmetrical, alternately broader on one side than on the other, the fish is called heteracanth. The spinous division, as well as the one consisting of jointed rays, may again be subdivided. In the Malacopterygian type all the rays remain jointed; indeed, sometimes the foremost ray, with its preceding short supports, is likewise ossified, and a hard spine, but the articulations can nearly always be distinctly