MUGILOIDS. ATHERINES.
MUGILOIDS.
49. The teeth in this family of fishes are so minute as to be often.imperceptible
to the naked eye. In the Mediterranean mullet, (Mugil
cephalus), they form a simple row along the margin of the upper and
lower jaws, and are attached to the gum, so as to be moveable like
the teeth of the Gonyodonts.(l) The inferior pharyngeals are covered
with flexible ciliiform teeth ; those of the superior pharyngeals are
so delicate, that the bones seem to be clothed by a soft and finely
papillose velvet. The final comminution of the food is effected, in
the present family, in the stomach itself, which presents a structure
similar to that of the gizzard of birds.
In the genus Cestrarus the lower jaw is always edentulous; but
there is a row of small and slender teeth along the margin of the
intermaxillary bones; the palatines and vomer are without teeth, as
in the true Mugiles : the intermaxillary teeth are extremely fine in the
Cestrceus plicatilis; they are stronger, and disposed in several rows in
the Cestreeus oxyrhynchus. In the Dajaus there are villiform teeth on
both jaws, and also on the palatines and vomer; it is interesting to
observe, that, with this modification which indicates a diet of an
animal character, the stomach is much less muscular than in the
true mullets. In the Nestes, the jaws, vomer, and pharyngeals are
armed with teeth ‘ en cardes,’ but the palatines are edentulous. In
the Tetragonurus the maxillary teeth are more developed than in the
previous genera; there are twenty-four teeth which are simple,
conical, and slightly recurved in each intermaxillary bone ; there are
fifty on each side of the lower jaw, arranged in a single row ; these
are stronger, more compressed and more pointed than the upper ones.
Both series of teeth are hut feebly attached to the bone, but those
of the lower jaw offer most resistance. There are longitudinal rows
of finer teeth on the vomer and palatine bones. The tongue is not
armed with teeth ; the pharyngeal bones support each an oval patch
of teeth ‘ en cardes.*
ATHERINES.
50. The sand-smelts or fishes of the family of Atherines have verv
(1) Page 85«
SCOMBEROIDS.
small but acute teeth ; these are sometimes present on the jaws only,
as in Atherina Brasiliensis and other species of the new world ; sometimes
also they are developed, hut of extremely minute size, upon the
palatine hones, as in the Atherina Hepsetus; and lastly they may he
found on the jaws, palatines and vomer, as in the Atherina Boieri, and
other broad and flat-headed species of the present family. The
pharyngeal bones in the common Atherine or sand-smelt, (Atherina
Preshy terJ, are furnished with numerous small and close-set conical
teeth.
SCOMBEROIDS,(1)
51. In this family of cycloid fishes the dental system presents many
modifications, of which the Sword-fishes (Xiphias), and the Scabbard-
fishes (LepidopusJ offer, perhaps, the extremes.
The Sword-fish might be reckoned among the edentulous fishes,
were it not that the pharyngeal bones are covered with a villosity
of extremely fine and minute denticles; but all the ordinary bones
of the mouth, of the tongue, and even of the branchial arches, are
without teeth. In the Opali or King-fish, ('Lampris guttatusj, the
ordinary bones of the mouth are likewise edentulous ; the pharyngeals
have not been examined in this species.
In the Stromateus there is a single row of denticles on each
jaw, but these are so delicate and short that they cannot he recognised
without the aid of a lens. The palatine, vomer, and hyoid
bones are edentulous, as in the Sword-fish.
The dentition of the Rhombus is similar to that of the Stromateus,
but the maxillary teeth are a little more developed.
The margins of the jaws are roughened by numerous close-set,
short, villiform teeth in the Tetrapturus; the palatine and pharyngeal
bones bear similar denticles in this genus.
In the Histiophorus the broad, dentigerous margins of the jaws
are covered with minute dental granulations only, some of which are
developed, in the lower jaw, into small pointed teeth.
The dental system is not more formidable in the genus Trachurus.
In the mailed mackerels, (Caranx), the tongue is beset with villiform
(1) PL 53, 54, and 55.