Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/765

 SEA RAVEN dian, 8. African, and South American coasts is the best known to seamen; it is caugh in nets or on hooks, and is very difficult t handle from the sudden erection of the spine SEARCH 739 Balloon Fish (Diodon pilosus). and the active motions of the body. In tetra- odon (Linn.) there is a mesial suture in the jaws, so that there appear to be two teeth above and two below ; the spines are very short, and the head, back, and tail are gen- erally smooth. The T. eleetricus (Paterson), with electric properties, has the skin entirely smooth. (See ELECTRIC FISHES.) There are several species on the American coast, of which the most common is T. turgidus (Mitch.), 6 to 14 in. long, olive-green above and whitish be- low ; the abdomen lax, covered with prickles Puffer or Swell Fish (Tetraodon turgidus). and capable of considerable distention; it is not uncommon about Martha's Vineyard, and on the Massachusetts and New York coasts, where it goes by the names of puffer and swell fish. Other names for this and the preceding genus are globe fish, urchin fish, and spine- belly. SEA RAVEX, an acanthopterous fish of the bullhead or sculpin family, and genus hemi- tripterus (Cuv.), one of the ugliest of this ugly group. The head is flattened, rough, and spiny; the pectorals are large and wing-like, advancing far under the throat, and with no free rays; ventrals under the pectorals, con- sisting of a spine and three or four soft rays ; the first dorsal deeply notched, and all the fin rays simple ; the head and jaws are furnished with numerous cutaneous branching filaments which with the spines and huge mouth ren- der the physiognomy of the fish anything but pleasing; there are sharp, card-like teeth on the jaws, vomer, palate, and pharyngeal bones- the tongue is smooth, the branchiostegal rays six, and the body without scales. The typical species is the common sea raven (H Acadi anus, Storer), called also the Acadian bullhead and deep-water sculpin; it attains a length of 2 ft. and a weight of 4 or 5 Ibs. The colors present every shade of dark brown, blood red, pinkish purple, and yellowish brown, with various markings and bands; yellowish white below. The form is sculpin-like ; the head is large, about a quarter of the whole length, with enormous gape and hideous appearance; the whole body above the lateral line is granu- lated, and thickly studded with tubercles ; the first three rays of the first dorsal are longest, and with the other rays of this fin are fringed at the end. It is not unfrequently taken on Common Sea Karen (Hemitripterus Acadianus). hooks by cod fishermen in deep water in Nova Scotia, in the gulf of St. Lawrence, and near the New England and New York coasts, espe- cially around the ledges of Massachusetts bay. Like the land raven, it is omnivorous and vo- racious, acting the part of a useful scavenger in removing decaying matters. SEARCH, Right of, the right of a belligerent visit, by his lawfully commissioned cruisers, all private ships sailing on the high seas, and need be, in order to ascertain their destination and character. It is a familiar doctrine of in- 1 part of its domain, and that over them, as >ver its landed territory, the sovereignty of he state extends supreme and inviolable. In a time of general peace, these ships cannot be "etained or boarded by the public ships of an- ther power for the purpose of inquiry into heir character or business, because such an act s an intrusion upon and in derogation of the overeignty of the state whose ships are so isited. In time of war, however, the general onsent of nations yields to the belligerents le privilege of visiting and searching ships rofessing to be neutral, in order that they may know that the neutral flag does not mask
 * o examine their papers, and their cargoes if
 * ernational law that the ships of a state form