Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/129

Rh Nothing is recorded of the habits of this fish; but its flesh is said to be as excellent, as its appearance is brilliant.

This is a very important Family, not only on account of the number of species included in it, which is very great, but also because of the value of many of them as food; the great abundance of some, and their gregarious habits, rendering them suitable subjects for extensive fisheries. The body is commonly ovate, with a tendency to compression, sometimes becoming very thin and high; the scales are remarkably small, sometimes almost invisible; the bones of the head have only the ordinary development, and the gill-covers are not armed with spinous projections. The body is smooth, but the back is often armed with prickles; the fins are strongly developed, and indicate the power of swimming to be possessed in a high degree; the pectorals are generally long, narrow, and pointed; there are two dorsals, the first containing bony rays, which are often greatly lengthened; the second composed of soft rays, and frequently divided into a number of small finlets, as is also the anal; the caudal is in general greatly produced vertically, and deeply forked.

The Family before us is one of the most extensive in the whole Class; in this respect it is exceeded only by the Carps and the Perches, and just equalled by the Wrasses. In Prince