Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 11.djvu/547

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ODD FORMS AMONG FISHES.

expect to find such a fish as the chimera (Fig. 9) an animal whose general appearance, it is true, is somewhat shark-like, but which, if possible, is more strange and monstrous than any of the sharks or

Fig. 8.—Shark's Egg, with a Portion of the Covering removed.

rays? This curious arctic fish, which attains the length of four feet, is not only exceedingly remarkable in its general appearance, but it is especially remarkable in its structure having no upper jaw, the four

Fig. 9.—Northern Chimera, or King of Herrings (Chimœra monstrosa).

upper teeth being supported on the front of the skull, and only two teeth in the lower jaw, and having no backbone, this important part being represented only by the most rudimentary structure, such as

Fig. 10.—Lepidosiren.

exists in the ordinary embryonic vertebrate, and which is known under the name of chorda dorsalis.

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