GERRES.--Body oblong, or rather elevated, covered with scales of moderate size, which are either entirely smooth or minutely ciliated. Mouth very protractile, and descending when thrust out. Eye rather large. No canine teeth; dentition feeble, and palate toothless. The two divisions of the dorsal fin are nearly separated by a deep incision. Formula of the vertical fins--D. 9/10 A. 2·3/7·9. Caudal fin forked. Præoperculum generally without denticulation. Lower pharyngeal bones coalescent. [Illustration: Fig. 159.--Gerres altispinis, from the mouth of the Ganges.] More than thirty species are known of this genus, which bear so close a resemblance to one another that their distinction is rather difficult. They live in the seas between the Tropics, and some, perhaps all, of the species enter fresh water. Very rarely they exceed a length of ten inches; nearly all have a plain silvery coloration. The coalescence of their lower pharyngeals renders their systematic position rather uncertain, and, indeed, some Ichthyologists have referred them to the Pharyngognaths. SCOLOPSIS.--Body oblong, covered with scales finely serrated and of moderate size. Jaws nearly equal in length anteriorly; cleft of the mouth horizontal. Teeth villiform, without canines; palate toothless. One dorsal fin. Formula of the vertical fins: D. 10/9 A. 3/7. Caudal fin forked. Præoperculum distinctly denticulated; infraorbital ring with a spine directed backwards. Branchiostegals, five. [Illustration: Fig. 160.--Infraorbital spine of Scolopsis monogramma.] Marine, and of small size. Twenty-five species are known from the tropical parts of the Indo-Pacific. _Heterognathodon_ is an allied genus, but without the infraorbital spine. DENTEX.--Body oblong, covered with ctenoid scales of moderate size. Cleft of the mouth nearly horizontal, with the jaws equal in length anteriorly. Canine teeth in both jaws; palate toothless. One dorsal fin. Formula of the vertical fins: D. 10·13/10·12 A. 3/8·9. Caudal fin forked. Præoperculum without serrature; præorbital unarmed and broad, there being a wide space between the eye and the cleft of the mouth. Cheek covered by more than three series of scales. Branchiostegals, six. Marine Fishes, rather locally distributed in the Mediterranean, on the south coast of Africa, in the Red Sea, East Indian Archipelago, and on the coasts of China and Japan. About fourteen species are known, some of which attain a weight of 30 lbs. and more. They form a not unimportant article of food where they are found in any number, as on the Cape of Good Hope. The species found in the Mediterranean (_D. vulgaris_) wanders sometimes to the south coast of England, and is one of the larger species. The coloration of these fishes is rather uniform, silvery, or pink, or greenish. _Symphorus_ is an allied genus from the Indo-Pacific.