"Fish with a segmented bony covering, long snout, and small toothless mouth."
Family 88.—SOLENOSTOMIDÆ. (1 Genus, 3 Species.)
"Marine Lophobranchii, with wide gill openings and two dorsal fins."
Distribution.—Indian Ocean, from Zanzibar to China and the Moluccas.
Family 89.—SYNGNATHIDÆ. (15 Genera, 112 Species.)
"Marine Lophobranchii, with very small gill opening and one soft dorsal fin."
Distribution.—All the tropical and temperate seas. Some species of Syngnathus, Doryichthys, and Cœlonotus enter fresh water, and a few live in it exclusively. Siphonostoma, Syngnathus, Nerophis, and Hippocampus are British genera. The Hippocampina (5 genera, 25 sp.), or Sea-horses, are peculiar to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, except three or four species of Hippocampus in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
Order VI.—PLECTOGNATHI.
"Fishes covered with rough scales or shields, having a narrow mouth, and soft posterior dorsal fin."
Family 90.—SCLERODERMI. (7 Genera, 95 Species.)