myrIpristis

[Gr. myrios =numberle , and pristos -toothed like a saw.] 1. Ichthy.: An acanthopterygian genus of the family Berycide. Snout short; eye large; villiform teeth on vomer and palatine bones. Scales large, ctenoid. Two dorsals, the first with ten or eleven spines; anal with four spines; caudal forked; ventrals with seven soft rays. Eighteen species, from the tropical seas of both hemispheres, the majority living near the coast, at the surface. Coloration principally red or pink on the back, silvery on the sides. They attain a length of about fifteen inches, and are esteemed as food. 2. Palæont.: There is a species from the Eocene of Sheppey.