Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/167

Rh the second ray produced into a long filament, while the others are of the usual size: the anal is longer than the dorsal.

We illustrate the genus by the Elegant Long-fin (Macropodus venustus, .), a native of the great rivers of India.

The well-known fishes of this Family are often spoken of as Grey Mullets, to distinguish them from the Mullidæ, which are frequently mentioned as Red Mullets; though it is perhaps better, as less likely to create confusion of ideas, to use the term Mullets for the one and that of Sur-mullets for the other. The true Mullets then are distinguished by the following characters. The body is oblong, somewhat narrow, more or less cylindrical, clothed with large scales. The head is somewhat depressed, covered with large angular scaly plates; the muzzle is short and obtuse, slightly projecting over the mouth, which is small, transversely cleft, and forming, when closed, an angle, the lower jaw having an eminence in the middle corresponding to a hollow in the upper: the eyes are large and placed near the muzzle. The teeth are very minute, and in some almost imperceptible; there are six gill-rays; the bones of the pharynx are so much developed as to give an angular form to the gullet. There are two dorsals, remote from each other, the first consisting of four strong spinous rays; the ventrals are a little behind the pectorals; the caudal is forked