Catesby, Mark. Appendix Pl. 19, The Viper-Mouth

Mark Catesby The Viper-Mouth, Appendix Pl. 19 Etching with hand color 14" x 19" sheet From the Appendix (Part 11) to Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida & the Bahama Islands London: 1747 - 1771 Currently known as the viperfish, Chauliodus sloani and the spiny catfish, Acanthodoras cataphractus*, Catesby described these subjects as follows:  VIPERA MARINA  The VIPER-MOUTH. THIS Fish is eighteen inches in length. The fins six in number, viz. one on the fore-part of the back, which terminates in a stiff hair or bristle four inches long; a pair of sharp-pointed fins grow under the gullet, and another pair under the middle of the belly; with a single one behind the anus. The number of teeth in each jaw was unequal; the upper-jaw had eight teeth, the two second being much longer than the other fix, each having an angular bending near their ends. The two fore-teeth of the under-jaw are almost: of equal length with those two of the upper-jaw just mentioned, but without those ben