History of British animals - University of Guam Marine Laboratory

Chimeiia. FISHES. CHONDROPT. 173Galeus acanthias Clusii, Will. Ich. 57—Ch. mon. Linn. Syst.i. 401.Block, Ich. tab. 124. Don. Brit. Fishes, tab. cxi—In the north seas.Length nearly 3 feet. Body compressed. Head blunt, the snout subascending,blunt. A narrow crenulated grinder on each side in the lowerjaw, and a broad tubercular one corresponding above. Nostrils immediatelyabove the upper lip contiguous, each with a cartilaginous complicatedvalve. Bronchial openings in front of the pectorals. Eyes large, lateral.Lateral line connected with numerous waved anastomosing grooves on thecheeks and face. On the crown in front of the eyes, a thin osseous plate,bent forwards, with a spinous disc at the extremity on the lower side. Thefirst dorsal fin above the pectorals narrow, with a strong spine along the aritealedge. The second dorsal arises immediately behind the first, is narrow,and is continued to the caudal one, where it terminates suddenly. The pectoralsare large, and subtriangular. Ventrals rounded, in front of each abroad recurved osseous plate, with recurved spines on the ventral edge.Claspers pedunculated, divided into three linear segments, the anteal onesimple, the retral ones having the opposite edges covered with numerous smallreflected spines.A small anal fin opposite the extremity of the second dorsal.Caudal fin above and below, broadest near the origin, gradually decreasingto a linear produced thread. This species was known to Dr Walker asan inhabitant of the Zetland seas. The specimen, from which the precedingdescription was taken, was sent from thence through the kind attention ofLaurence Edmonston, Esq. Surgeon, Unst, where it is termed the Rabbitfish.Gen. XVII. ACIPENSER.without teeth.Snout conical.Sturgeon.—Mouth protrusile,30. A. Sturio.— Body with five rows of large osseous scales.Men: Pin. 188. Sibb. Scot. 25. Will Ich. 239. Linn. Syst. 403. Penn.Brit. Zool. iii. 124. Don. Brit. Fishes, tab. lxv Occasionally foundin rivers.Length reaching to 18 feet. Body grey above, white"below, pentangular.Snout slender, subdepressed^hard. Mouth small, circular and tubular, betweenwhich and the extremity of the snout are four beards in a transverserow. Eyes small. Nostrils double. Gill opening semicircular. A row oflarge radiated osseous scales, with a mesial crest, commences at the crown,and is continued to the tail ; another on each side of the body, and another oneach side of the belly ; the rest of the skin rough. All the fins are triangular.The anal and dorsal fins opposite.. Upper lobe of the tail considerably produced—Thisspecies is occasionally caught in the larger rivers by the salmonnets, in the summer season, having left the sea for the purpose of spawning.The fish referred to by Merret in his Pinax, p. 188, was probably the A.Huso. " Acipenseri congener, cui valde similis excepto capite saporis delicatissimi,captus erat in Insula "Vecti, anno 1664. Ds. Cole, qui ipsum delineavitexsiccavitque."At the conclusion of this enumeration of the Cartilaginous Fishes of thiscountry, the Sea Snake, an animal which was cast ashore on Stronsa, Orkney,in 1808, merits some notice. It came ashore dead, and in a mutilated state.From the affidavits of those who had an opportunity of inspecting it, it appearsto have been upwards of 55 feet in length, and not above 5 or 6 feet in circumferencewhere thickest. Filaments, resembling a mane, extended along theback, the remnants, probably, of a dorsal fin ; and three articulated memberson each side, presented themselves, probably the remains of pectorals, ventrals,