recorded what I have been told by persons in other respects well instructed and worthy of credit."[1]
Family III. Mullidæ.
(Surmullets).
This also is a Family of limited extent, arranged by Cuvier with the Perches. Its distinctive characters are these:—the shape is somewhat oval, but the fore parts are thick in proportion to the hind; the head is large, somewhat compressed, higher than broad; the profile is abrupt, approaching to a vertical line; the eyes are placed near the summit, but look laterally; the mouth is small, armed with minute teeth; the lower jaw is furnished with two fleshy beards (cirri), which depend from its under side; the line of the back is arched, that of the belly nearly straight; the gill-cover and body are clothed with large scales, easily detached: there are two dorsal fins, widely separated; the caudal is forked.
About fifty species are included in this Family, contained in two genera, Mullus and Upeneus. The former of these, containing but two species, is found in the Mediterranean and in the British seas; the latter and more numerous one, little differing from it in appearance or structure, is distributed over the tropical parts of the ocean. They are nearly all coloured with different shades of red, often varied with yellow or pale stripes; their flesh is much esteemed.
- ↑ Cuv. et Val. Hist. des Poiss. iii. 346.
