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Textbook Guide To Medical Image Analysis Methods and Algorithms 2Nd Edition Klaus D Toennies Auth Ebook All Chapter PDF
Textbook Guide To Medical Image Analysis Methods and Algorithms 2Nd Edition Klaus D Toennies Auth Ebook All Chapter PDF
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Advances in Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Klaus D. Toennies
Guide to Medical
Image Analysis
Methods and Algorithms
Second Edition
Advances in Computer Vision and Pattern
Recognition
Founding editor
Sameer Singh, Rail Vision, Castle Donington, UK
Series editor
Sing Bing Kang, Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA, USA
Advisory Boards
Horst Bischof, Graz University of Technology, Austria
Richard Bowden, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
Sven Dickinson, University of Toronto, ON, Canada
Jiaya Jia, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Kyoung Mu Lee, Seoul National University, South Korea
Yoichi Sato, The University of Tokyo, Japan
Bernt Schiele, Max Planck Institute for Computer Science, Saarbrücken, Germany
Stan Sclaroff, Boston University, MA, USA
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/4205
Klaus D. Toennies
Second Edition
123
Klaus D. Toennies
Computer Science Department, ISG
Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Germany
The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identified as the author(s) of this work in
accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988.
The methodology presented in the first edition was considered established practice
or settled science in the medical image analysis community in 2010–2011. Progress
in this field is fast (as in all fields of computer science) with several developments
being particularly relevant to subjects treated in this book:
Besides actualizing all chapters and removing typos from the first edition, we
focused on methods that relate to these three points in the new edition. The general
structure of the book has not been changed which also means that the different uses
of the book for courses on medical image analysis suggested in the preface for the
first edition remain valid. However, the focus of the book on segmentation, clas-
sification, and registration has been strengthened further. These tasks are particu-
larly important if image guidance in the operation room is needed since it requires
well-understood and reliable tools to extract information from the image data.
In Chaps. 4 and 5, we added established methods for feature generation and
edge-preserving smoothing. Feature generation, i.e., the reduction and transfor-
mation of image data to a small set of features, is important for efficient and fast
extraction of information from images. Edge-preserving smoothing reduces the
noise, which is inherent to most imaging techniques, while keeping edges as major
v
vi Preface to the 2nd Edition
Acknowledgements
Several persons supported me in writing this new edition. I wish to thank my Ph.D.
students Georg Hille, Tim König, Marko Rak, and Johannes Steffen who read and
corrected part of the chapters. They surely helped to clarify the presentation of the
book. Johannes Steffen also contributed to the section on deep learning to make it
more concise. I also wish to thank Dr. Laura Astola who used this book in her
course and gave me an embarrassingly long list of all the errors that I produced in
the first edition. I corrected them all and hopefully produced not too many new
typos. Finally, I wish to thank Stefanie Quade for proofreading and correcting the
text. I learned a lot about the English language from her, and it certainly improved
the readability of the book.
Preface to the 1st Edition
Hans Castorp, in Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain, keeps an X-ray of his love as it
seems to him the most intimate of her to possess. Professionals will think different
of medical images, but the fascination with the ability to see the unseeable is
similar. And, of course, it is no longer just X-ray. Today, it is not sparseness but
wealth and diversity of the many different methods to generate images of the human
body that make understanding of the depicted content difficult. At any point in time
in the last twenty years, at least one or two ways to acquire a new kind of image
have been in the pipeline from research to development and application. Currently,
optical coherence tomography and MEG are among those somewhere between
development and first clinical application. At the same time, established techniques
such as CT or MRI reach new heights with respect to depicted content, image
quality, or speed of acquisition, opening them to new fields in the medical sciences.
Images are not self-explanatory, however. Their interpretation requires profes-
sional skill that has to grow with the number of different imaging techniques. The
many case reports and scientific articles about the use of images in diagnosis and
therapy bear witness to this. Since the appearance of digital images in the 1970s,
information technologies have had a part in this. The task of computer science has
been and still is the quantification of information in the images by supporting
detection and delineation of structures from an image or from the fusion of infor-
mation from different image sources. While certainly not having the elaborate skills
of a trained professional, automatic or semi-automatic analysis algorithms have the
advantage of repeatedly performing tasks of image analysis with constant quality,
hence relieving the human operator from the tedious and fatiguing parts of the
interpretation task.
By the standards of computer science, computer-based image analysis is an old
research field with first applications in the 1960s. Images in general are such a
fascinating subject because the data elements contain so little information, while the
whole image captures such a wide range of semantics. Just take a picture from your
last vacation and look for information in it. It is not just Uncle Harry but also the
beauty of the background, the weather and time of the day, the geographical
location, and many other kinds of information that can be gained from a collection
of pixels of which the only information is intensity, hue, and saturation.
vii
viii Preface to the 1st Edition
Acknowledgements
There are many who contributed to this book who I wish to thank. First and
foremost, there is the Unknown Student. Many of the students who took part in the
lectures on which this book is based took a real interest in the subject, even though
image processing and image analysis require more background in mathematics than
many students care to know. Their interest to understand this subject certainly
helped to clarify much of the argumentation.
Then, there are the Ph.D. and Master students, who contributed with their
research work to this book. The work of Stefan Al-Zubi, Steven Bergner, Lars
Dornheim, Karin Engel, Clemens Hentschke, Karsten Rink, and Sebastian Schäfer
produced important contributions in several fields of medical image analysis which
have been included in the book. I also wish to thank Stefanie Quade for proof-
reading a first version of this book, which certainly improved the readability.
Finally, I wish to thank Abdelmalek Benattayallah, Anna Celler, Tyler Hughes,
Sergey Shcherbinin, MeVis Medical Solutions, the National Eye Institute, Siemens
Sector Healthcare, and Planilux who provided several of the pictures that illustrate
imaging techniques and analysis methods.
The original version of the book frontmatter
was revised: Copyright comment text has
been added in copyright page. The erratum
to the book frontmatter is available at
10.1007/978-1-4471-7320-5_15
xi
Contents
xiii
xiv Contents
xxi
xxii Abbreviations
Abstract
Medical images are different from other pictures in that they depict distributions
of various physical features measured from the human body. They show
attributes that are otherwise inaccessible. Furthermore, analysis of such images is
guided by very specific expectations which gave rise to acquiring the images in
the first place. This has consequences on the kind of analysis and on
requirements for algorithms that carry out some or all of the analysis. Image
analysis as part of the clinical workflow will be discussed in this chapter as well
as the types of tools that exist to support the development and carrying out such
an analysis. We will conclude with an example for the solution of an analysis
task in order to illustrate important aspects for the development of methods for
analyzing medical images.
Why is there a need for a book on medical image analysis when there are plenty of
good texts on image analysis around? Medical images differ from photography in
many ways. Consider the picture in Fig. 1.1 and potential questions and problems
related to its analysis. The first question that comes to mind would probably be to
detect certain objects (e.g., persons). Common problems that have to be solved are
to recover the 3d information, i.e., missing depth information and the true shape, to
separate illumination effects from object appearance, to deal with partially hidden
objects, and to track objects over time.
Fig. 1.1 Analysis questions for a photography are often based on a detection or tracking task
(such as detecting real persons in the image). Problems relate to reducing effects from the opacity
of most depicted objects and to the reconstruction of depth information (real persons are different
from those on the picture because they are 3d, and—if a sequence of images is present—because
they can move)
Medical images are different. Consider the image in Fig. 1.2. The appearance of
the depicted object is not caused by light reflection but from the absorption of
X-rays. The object is transparent with respect to the depicted physical attribute.
Although detection of some structure may be goal of the analysis, exact delineation
of the object and its substructures may be the first task. Variation of object shape
and appearance may be characteristic for some evaluation and needs to be captured.
Furthermore, this is not the only way to gain insight in the human body. Different
imaging techniques produce mappings of several physical attributes in various ways
that may be subjects of inspection (compare Fig. 1.2 with Fig. 1.3). Comparing this
information with reality is difficult; however, since few if any non-invasive methods
exist to verify the information gained from the pictures. Hence, the focus on
analysis methods for medical images is different if compared to the analysis of
many other images. Delineation, restoration, enhancement, and registration for
fusing images from different sources are comparably more important than classi-
fication, reconstruction of 3d information, and tracking (although it does not mean
that the last three topics are irrelevant for medical image analysis). This shift in
focus is reflected in our book and leads to the following structure:
• Medical images, their storage and use will be discussed in Chaps. 2 and 3.
• Enhancement techniques and feature computation will be the subject of Chaps. 4
and 5.
• Delineation of object boundaries, finding objects, and registering information
from different sources will make up the majority of the book. It will be presented
in Chaps. 6–12.
1 The Analysis of Medical Images 3
Fig. 1.2 Detail of one of the first radiographs showing wrist and part of the hand. The image
projects a physical entity that is transparent with respect to the detection technique. Bone structures
are clearly visible
Fig. 1.3 Detail of a slice through similar region than the one depicted in Fig. 1.2 by a magnetic
resonance image (MRI). The acquisition technique produces a 3d volume and the imaged physical
entity highlights soft tissue structures (from the website http://www.exeter.ac.uk/*ab233/, with
kind permission of Dr. Abdelmalek Benattayallah)
4 1 The Analysis of Medical Images
Fig. 1.4 Different tasks in medical image analysis require different methodology and validation
techniques
• Analysis in the clinical work flow: How does the analysis fit into the clinical
routine within which it has been requested?
• Strategies to develop an analysis tool: How can it be assured that an efficient and
effective solution has been chosen?
• Acquisition of necessary a priori information: What kind of information is
necessary to solve the analysis task and how can it be acquired?
• Setup of an evaluation scenario: How can the quality of the analysis method be
tested?
• Tools to support an analysis task: How can tools be used to spend as little effort
as necessary to solve the analysis task?
It is easy to forget about these more general questions when being confronted
with some analysis problem, because
1 The Analysis of Medical Images 5
• each analysis task is different from most other analysis tasks (different organ or
pathology to be analyzed, different imaging system, imaging parameters,
imaging equipment).
• when being asked, finding a solution fast is often the main motivation and other
aspects such as fitting the solution into the workflow appear to be of lesser
importance.
• development of a method usually takes place well separated from the regular
practice in which the method is supposed to be used.
• it is more fun to experiment with some new methods or to apply a methodology
with which the developer has experience rather than truly looking for the most
appropriate solution.
Nonetheless, the final result needs to be an effective and ideally efficient solu-
tion. The following sections will present strategies for developing a method in the
clinical environment, for deciding on the type of methodology and for deciding on
an evaluation scenario.
Digital medical images and computer-assisted methods for their interpretation
have been around for quite some time. Several books exist that treat the subject.
Books on specific aspects of medical image analysis will be referenced in the
respective chapters. Books on medical image analysis in general are the following:
There is still a need for another text, since the subject is either treated with focus
on the generation of images rather than on their analysis, or the treatment requires a
very good background in order to appreciate the information. The book at hand will
introduce the subject and present an overview and detailed look at the many
dependencies between different strategies for computer-assisted interpretation of
medical images.
6 1 The Analysis of Medical Images
A newly developed method or a newly adapted method for carrying out some
analysis, e.g., for determining the tumor boundary and tumor volume in brain MRI,
will most likely not be implemented on the computer that is used to generate or to
evaluate the images. The reason is that this piece of software will often not be
certified as part of the equipment to be used in clinical routine. Hence, the method
will be separated from other analysis devices while still intended to be used within
some medical procedure. This has to be accounted for when developing a method.
The developer will not only have to create the method but also needs to provide an
environment in which the method can be applied. The type of environment depends
on the problem that has to be solved. At least five different scenarios can be
differentiated (see Table 1.1):
• For a clinical study, images are analyzed outside a clinical routine task to
understand or confirm findings based on images. In this case, images that are
part of the study are often copied to some workstation where the study is taking
place. The image analysis method is then implemented on this workstation and
results from analysis are kept here as well. Transfer of data to this workstation
has to be organized and bookkeeping must enable a later checking of results.
• A relatively new field are images in large cohort studies in epidemiology. With
the advent of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a non-invasive imaging
technique that does not use potentially harmful X-rays it became ethically
acceptable to image healthy subjects for the purpose of studying public health
on a grand scale. Several such studies have been initiated in recent years (Preim
et al. 2016). Analysis methods should be largely automatic since the number of
subjects is very large (up to several tens of thousands). Different to a clinical
study with its well-specified analysis goals, data acquisition for cohort studies is
often started with rather generic goals (such as public health in general or the
effects of an aging society). This leads to a number of unique requirements
Table 1.1 Different scenarios for computer-assisted image analysis have very different
requirements
Cohort Clinical Computer aided Treatment Computer-assisted
study study diagnosis planning surgery
No. of cases Very Large Small Small Small
large
Time-constraints Low Low Medium Medium High
Location Anywhere Anywhere Office, reading Office, ward Operating room
room
Interaction Not Not Acceptable Acceptable Acceptable
acceptable acceptable
Archival Very high High High Medium Medium
requirements
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II. Siluridæ Heteropteræ.—The rayed dorsal fin is very little
developed, and, if it is present, it belongs to the abdominal portion of
the vertebral column; the adipose fin is exceedingly small or absent.
The extent of the anal is not much inferior to that of the caudal
vertebral column. The gill-membranes overlap the isthmus,
remaining more or less separate: Silurina.
Saccobranchus.—Adipose fin none; dorsal very short, without
pungent spine, placed above the ventrals. Cleft of the mouth
transverse, anterior, of moderate width; barbels eight. Eyes rather
small. The upper and lateral parts of the head osseous or covered
with a very thin skin. Gill-cavity with an accessory posterior sac,
extending backwards between the muscles along each side of the
abdominal and caudal portions of the vertebral column. Ventrals six-
rayed.
Small fishes from East Indian rivers; four species are known. The
lung-like extension of the branchial cavity receives water, and is
surrounded by contractile transverse muscular fibres by which the
water is expelled at intervals. The vessels of the sac take their origin
in the last branchial artery, and pass into the aorta.
Silurus.—No adipose fin; one very short dorsal, without pungent
spine. Barbels four or six, one to each maxillary, and one or two to
each mandible. Nostrils remote from each other. Head and body
covered with soft skin. The eye is situated above the level of the angle
of the mouth. The dorsal fin is anterior to the ventrals which are
composed of more than eight rays. Caudal rounded.
This genus, of which five species are known, inhabits the
temperate parts of Europe and Asia. The species which has given
the name to the whole family, is the “Wels” of the Germans, Silurus
glanis. It is found in the fresh waters east of the Rhine, and is,
besides the Sturgeons, the largest of European Freshwater-fishes,
and the only species of this family which occurs in Europe. Barbels
six. It attains to a weight of 300 or 400 lbs., and the flesh, especially
of smaller specimens, is firm, flaky, and well flavoured. Aristotle
described it under the name of Glanis. Its former occurrence in
Scotland has justly been denied. In China it is represented by a
similar species, S. asotus, which, however, has four barbels only.
Fig. 260.—The “Wels,” Siluris glanis.
a. Bagrina.
Bagrus.—Adipose fin long; a short dorsal with a pungent spine
and nine or ten soft rays; anal fin short, with less than twenty rays.
Barbels eight. The anterior and posterior nostrils are remote from
each other, the posterior being provided with a barbel. Teeth on the
palate in a continuous band. Eyes with a free orbital margin. Caudal
forked; ventrals six-rayed.
This genus consists of two species only, common in the Nile, viz.
the “Bayad,” B. bayad, and B. docmac. Both grow to a large size,
exceeding a length of five feet, and are eaten. Chrysichthys and
Clarotes are two other Siluroid genera from African rivers, closely
allied to Bagrus. Similar Siluroids are common in the East Indies,
and have been referred to the following genera: Macrones,
Pseudobagrus, Liocassis, Bagroides, Bagrichthys, Rita,
Acrochordonichthys, Akysis.
b. Amiurina.
Amiurus.—Adipose fin of moderate length; a short dorsal with a
pungent spine and six soft rays; anal fin of moderate length. Barbels
eight. The anterior and posterior nostrils are remote from each other,
the posterior being provided with a barbel. Palate edentulous. Head
covered with skin above. Ventrals eight-rayed.
The “Cat-fishes” of North America, of which about a dozen
different species are known. One species occurs in China. Allied, but
smaller forms are Hopladelus and Noturus, likewise from North
America.
c. Pimelodina.
Platystoma.—Adipose fin of moderate length; a short dorsal fin
with a pungent spine and six or seven soft rays; anal fin rather short.
Snout very long, spatulate, with the upper jaw more or less projecting;
the upper surface of the head not covered by the skin. Barbels six; the
anterior and posterior nostrils remote from each other, none with a
barbel. Palate toothed. Caudal forked; ventrals six-rayed, inserted
behind the dorsal.
Twelve species from South America, some attaining a length of
six feet, the majority being ornamented with deep-black spots or
bands. Allied genera from South America, likewise distinguished by
a long spatulate snout, are Sorubim, Hemisorubim, and
Platystomatichthys, whilst Phractocephalus, Piramutana,
Platynematichthys, Piratinga, Bagropsis, and Sciades, have a snout
of ordinary length. The barbels of some are of extraordinary length,
and not rarely dilated and band-like.
Pimelodus.—Adipose fin well developed; dorsal fin short, with a
more or less pungent spine and six rays; anal fin short. Barbels six,
cylindrical or slightly compressed, none of them belonging to either of
the nostrils, which are remote from each other. Palate edentulous.
Ventrals six-rayed, inserted behind the dorsal.
Of all South American genera this is represented by the greatest
number of species, more than forty being well characterised; they
differ chiefly with regard to the length of the adipose fin and barbels,
and the strength of the dorsal spine. Singularly, two species (P.
platychir and P. balayi), are found in West Africa. The majority are of
but moderate size and plain coloration.—Allied South American
genera (also without teeth on the palate), are Pirinampus,
Conorhynchus, Notoglanis, Callophysus, Lophiosilurus.
Auchenoglanis.—Adipose fin rather long, dorsal short, with a
pungent spine and seven rays; anal short. Snout produced, pointed,
with narrow mouth. Barbels six, none of which belongs to either of the
nostrils, which are remote from each other. The teeth of each jaw form
a pair of small elliptic patches which are longer than broad; palate
edentulous. Eyes of moderate size. Ventrals six-rayed.
One species, Au. biscutatus, from the Nile, Senegal, and other
West African rivers.
d. Ariina.
Arius.—Adipose fin of moderate length or short; a short dorsal fin
with a pungent spine and seven soft rays; anal fin rather short. Head
osseous above; barbels six, four at the mandible, none at either of the
nostrils which are close together. Eyes with a free orbital margin.
Caudal fin forked; ventrals six-rayed, behind the dorsal.
Of all Siluroid genera this has the greatest number of species
(about seventy), and the widest distribution, being represented in
almost all tropical countries which are drained by large rivers; some
of the species prefer brackish to fresh water, and a few enter the
sea, but keep near to the coast. Some of the species are of small
size, whilst others exceed a length of five feet. The extent of the
armature of the neck and the dentition vary much in the different
species, and affords two of the principal characters by which the
species are separated.—The following genera are allied to Arius,
Galeichthys from South Africa; Genidens and Paradiplomystax from
Brazil; Diplomystax from Chile; Aelurichthys from Central and South
America; Hemipimelodus, Ketengus, Osteogeniosus, and
Batrachocephalus from the East Indies; and Atopochilus from West
Africa.
Fig. 261.—Arius australis,
from Queensland.
e. Bagariina.
Bagarius.—Adipose fin rather short; a short dorsal with one spine
and six rays; anal fin of moderate length. Barbels eight, of which one
pair stands between the anterior and posterior nostrils which are close
together. Head naked above. Caudal fin deeply forked; ventrals rays
six. Thorax without longitudinal plaits of the skin.
A large Siluroid (B. bagarius) from rivers of India and Java;
exceeding a length of six feet.
Fig. 262.—Euglyptosternum
coum, thoracic adhesive
apparatus.
Euglyptosternum.—Adipose fin of moderate length; a short
dorsal with a pungent spine and six rays; anal fin short. Barbels eight,
of which one pair is placed between the anterior and posterior nostrils
which are close together. Teeth on the palate villiform, in two separate
patches. Eyes small, below the skin. Caudal forked; ventral rays six.
Pectorals horizontal, with a thoracic adhesive apparatus between,
which is formed by longitudinal plaits of the skin.
This fish (Eu. coum) inhabits the river Coic in Syria, and is about
twelve inches long. The plaited structure on the thorax probably
increases the capability of the fish of maintaining its position in the
rapid current of the stream, a function which appears to be chiefly
performed by the horizontally expanded pectoral fins. A similar
structure is found in Glyptosternum, a genus represented by eight
species in mountain streams of the East Indies, and differing from
the Syrian species in lacking the teeth on the palate.
V. Siluridæ Stenobranchiæ.—The rayed dorsal fin is short, if
present, belonging to the abdominal portion of the vertebral column,
the ventrals being inserted behind it (except in Rhinoglanis). The gill-
membranes are confluent with the skin of the isthmus.
a. Doradina.
Some of the genera have no bony shields along the lateral line,
and a small adipose fin or none whatever; all of these are South
American—Ageniosus, Tetranematichthys, Euanemus,
Auchenipterus, Glanidium, Centromochlus, Trachelyopterus,
Cetopsis, and Astrophysus.
Others have a series of bony scutes along the middle of the side;
they form the genus Doras with two closely allied forms, Oxydoras
and Rhinodoras. Some twenty-five species are known, all from rivers
of tropical America, flowing into the Atlantic. These fishes have
excited attention by their habit of travelling, during the dry season,
from a piece of water about to dry up, in quest of a pond of greater
capacity. These journeys are occasionally of such a length that the
fish spends whole nights on the way, and the bands of scaly
travellers are sometimes so large that the Indians who happen to
meet them, fill many baskets of the prey thus placed in their hands.
The Indians supposed that the fish carry a supply of water with them,
but they have no special organs, and can only do so by closing the
gill-openings, or by retaining a little water between the plates of their
bodies, as Hancock supposes. The same naturalist adds that they
make regular nests, in which they cover up their eggs with care and
defend them, male and female uniting in this parental duty until the
eggs are hatched. The nest is constructed at the beginning of the
rainy season, of leaves, and is sometimes placed in a hole scooped
out in the beach.
Finally, in the last genus, the lateral scutes are likewise absent,
viz. in
Synodontis.—The adipose fin is of moderate length or rather
long; the dorsal fin has a very strong spine and seven soft rays. The
teeth in the lower jaw are movable, long, very thin at the base, and
with a slightly-dilated brown apex. Mouth small. Barbels six, more or
less fringed with a membrane or with filaments. Neck with broad
dermal bones.
b. Rhinoglanina.
Rhinoglanis.—Two dorsal fins, both composed of rays, the first
with a strong spine; anal rather short. Barbels six; anterior and
posterior nostrils close together, the posterior very large, open. Neck
with broad dermal bones. Ventrals with seven rays, inserted below the
posterior rays of the first dorsal fin.
This Siluroid is known from a single example only one and a half
inches long, obtained at Gondokoro on the Upper Nile. Callomystax
represents this type in the Ganges and Indus.
c. Malapterurina.
Malapterurus.—One dorsal fin only, which is adipose and
situated before the caudal; anal of moderate length or short; caudal
rounded; ventrals six-rayed, inserted somewhat behind the middle of
the body; pectorals without pungent spine. Barbels six: one to each
maxillary and two on each side of the mandible. The anterior and
posterior nostrils are remote from each other. No teeth on the palate.
The entire head and body covered with soft skin. Eyes small. Gill-
opening very narrow, reduced to a slit before the pectoral.
The “Electric Cat- or Sheath-fishes” are not uncommon in the
fresh waters of tropical Africa; three species have been described, of
which M. electricus occurs in the Nile; they grow to a length of about
four feet. Although the first dorsal fin is absent, its position (if it had
been developed) is indicated by a rudimentary interneural spine,
which rests in the cleft of the neural process of the first vertebra. The
electric organ extends over the whole body, but is thickest on the
abdomen; it lies between two aponeurotic membranes, below the
skin, and consists of rhomboidal cells which contain a rather firm
gelatinous substance. The electric nerve takes its origin from the
spinal chord, does not enter into connection with ganglia, and
consists of a single enormously-strong primitive fibre, which
distributes its branches in the electric organ.
a. Hypostomatina.
Stygogenes.—Adipose fin short; dorsal and anal short; the outer
fin-rays somewhat thickened and rough; palate toothless; cleft of the
mouth of moderate width, with a maxillary barbel on each side; a short
broad flap on each side between the nostrils, which are close
together. Lower lip very broad, pendent. Eyes small, covered with
transparent skin. Head covered with soft skin. Ventrals six-rayed.
These small Siluroids, which are called “Preñadillas” by the
natives, together with the allied Arges, Brontes, and Astroplebus,
have received some notoriety through Humboldt’s accounts, who
adopted the popular belief that they live in subterranean waters
within the bowels of the active volcanoes of the Andes, and are
ejected with streams of mud and water during eruptions. Humboldt
himself considers it very singular that they are not cooked and
destroyed whilst they are vomited forth from craters or other
openings. The explanation of their appearance during volcanic
eruptions is, that they abound in the numerous lakes and torrents of
the Andes, that they are killed by the sulphuretted gases escaping
during an eruption, and swept down by the torrents of water issuing
from the volcano.
Callichthys.—Adipose fin short, supported anteriorly by a short
movable spine; dorsal with a feeble spine and seven or eight rays;
anal short. Teeth minute or entirely absent; cleft of the mouth rather
narrow, with a pair of maxillary barbels on each side, which are united
at the base. Eyes small. Head covered with osseous plates; body
wholly protected by two series of large imbricate shields on each side.
Ventrals six-rayed.
Twelve species of this genus are known; they are small, and
similarly distributed as Doras, with which they have much in common
as regards their mode of life. They likewise are able to travel over
land, and construct nests for their ova.
Fig. 265.—Callichthys armatus, from the Upper Amazon. Natural size.
Chætostomus.—A short adipose fin, supported anteriorly by a
short, compressed, curved spine; dorsal fin of moderate length, with
from eight to ten rays, the first of which is simple; anal fin short;
ventral six-rayed; pectoral with a strong spine. Head and body
completely cuirassed, the lower parts being sometimes naked; body
rather short, with four or five longitudinal series of large imbricate
scutes on each side; tail not depressed. Snout produced, obtuse in
front; mouth inferior, transverse, with a single series of generally very
fine bent teeth in both jaws. Interoperculum very movable and armed
with erectile spines.
b. Aspredinina.
Aspredo.—Adipose fin none; dorsal short, without pungent spine;
anal very long, but not united with the caudal. Head broad, much
depressed; tail very long and slender. Barbels not less than six, one of
which is attached to each intermaxillary; none at the nostrils. Eyes
very small. Head covered with soft skin; the anterior and posterior
nostrils are remote from each other. Ventrals six-rayed.
Six species are known from Guyana; the largest grows to a
length of about eighteen inches. The remarkable mode of taking care
of their ova has been noticed above (p. 161, Fig. 72). Bunocephalus,
Bunocephalichthys, and Harttia, from tropical America, are other
genera of this sub-family which remain to be mentioned.
VII. Siluridæ Opisthopteræ.—The rayed dorsal fin is always
present, short, and placed above or behind the middle of the length
of the body, above or behind the ventrals which, however, are
sometimes absent; anal short. Nostrils remote from each other; if a
nasal barbel is present, it belongs to the anterior nostril. Lower lip not
reverted. The gill-membranes are not confluent with the skin of the
isthmus: Nematogenyina and Trichomycterina.
The genera Heptapterus, Nematogenys, Trichomycterus,
Eremophilus, and Pariodon, belong to this sub-family. They are small
South American Siluroids, the majority of which inhabit waters at
high altitudes, up to 14,000 feet above the level of the sea. In the
Andes they replace the Loaches of the Northern Hemisphere, which
they resemble in appearance and habits, and even in coloration,
offering a striking example of the fact that similar forms of animals
are produced under similar external physical conditions.
VIII. Siluridæ Branchicolæ.—The rayed dorsal fin is present,
short, and placed behind the ventrals; anal short. Vent far behind the
middle of the length of the body. Gill-membranes confluent with the
skin of the isthmus.
Stegophilus and Vandellia, two genera from South America,
comprising the smallest and least developed Siluroids. Their body is
narrow, cylindrical, and elongate; a small barbel at each maxillary;
the operculum and interoperculum are armed with short stiff spines.
The natives of Brazil accuse these fishes of entering and ascending
the urethra of persons while bathing, causing inflammation and
sometimes death. This requires confirmation, but there is no doubt
that they live parasitically in the gill-cavity of larger fishes
(Platystoma), but probably they enter these cavities only for places
of safety, without drawing any nourishment from their host.
Second Family—Scopelidæ.
Body naked or scaly. Margin of the upper jaw formed by the
intermaxillary only; opercular apparatus sometimes incompletely
developed. Barbels none. Gill-opening very wide; pseudobranchiæ
well developed. Air-bladder none. Adipose fin present. The eggs are
enclosed in the sacs of the ovary, and excluded by oviducts. Pyloric
appendages few in number or absent. Intestinal tract very short.
Exclusively marine, the majority being either pelagic or deep-sea
forms. Of fossil remains the following have been referred to this
family:—Osmeroides, from Mount Lebanon, which others believe to
be a marine salmonoid; Hemisaurida, from Comen, allied to Saurus;
Parascopelus and Anapterus, from the miocene of Licata, the latter
genus allied to Paralepis.
Saurus (inclus. Saurida).—Body sub-cylindrical, rather elongate,
covered with scales of moderate size; head oblong; cleft of the mouth
very wide; intermaxillary very long, styliform, tapering; maxillary thin,
long, closely adherent to the intermaxillary. Teeth card-like, some
being elongate, slender; all can be laid downwards and inwards. Teeth
on the tongue, and palatine bones. Eye of moderate size. Pectorals
short; ventrals eight- or nine-rayed, inserted in advance of the dorsal,
not far behind the pectorals. Dorsal fin nearly in the middle of the
length of the body, with thirteen or less rays; adipose fin small; anal
short or of moderate length; caudal forked.
Fifteen species of small size, from the shores of the tropical and
sub-tropical zones. The species figured on p. 42, Fig. 5, occurs on
the north-west coast of Australia and in Japan.
Bathysaurus.—Shape of the body similar to that of Saurus, sub-
cylindrical, elongate, covered with small scales. Head depressed, with
the snout produced, flat above. Cleft of the mouth very wide, with the
lower jaw projecting; intermaxillary very long, styliform, tapering, not
movable. Teeth in the jaws, in broad bands, not covered by lips,
curved, unequal in size and barbed at the end. A series of similar
teeth runs along the whole length of each side of the palate. Eye of
moderate size, lateral. Pectoral of moderate length. Ventral eight-
rayed, inserted immediately behind the pectoral. Dorsal fin in the
middle of the length of the body, with about eighteen rays. Adipose fin
absent or present. Anal of moderate length. Caudal emarginate.
Deep-sea fishes, obtained in the Pacific at depths varying from
1100 to 2400 fathoms. The largest example is twenty inches long.
Two species.
Bathypterois.—Shape of the body like that of an Aulopus. Head
of moderate size, depressed in front, with the snout projecting, the
large mandible very prominent beyond the upper jaw. Cleft of the
mouth wide; maxillary developed, very movable, much dilated behind.
Teeth in narrow villiform bands in the jaws. On each side of the broad
vomer a small patch of similar teeth; none on the palatines or on the
tongue. Eye very small. Scales cycloid, adherent, of moderate size.
Rays of the pectoral fin much elongated, some of the upper being
separate from the rest, and forming a distinct division. Ventrals
abdominal, with the outer rays prolonged, eight-rayed. Dorsal fin
inserted in the middle of the body, above or immediately behind the
root of the ventral, of moderate length. Adipose fin present or absent.
Anal short. Caudal forked.
This very singular form is one of the discoveries of the
“Challenger;” it is widely distributed over the seas of the Southern
Hemisphere, in depths varying from 520 to 2600 fathoms. The
elongate pectoral rays are most probably organs of touch. Four
species were discovered, the largest specimen being thirteen inches
long.
Harpodon.—Body elongate, covered with very thin, diaphanous,
deciduous scales. Head thick, with very short snout; its bones are very
soft, and the superficial ones are modified into wide muciferous
cavities; the lateral canal of the body is also very wide, and a pair of
pores corresponds to each scale of the lateral line, one being above,
the other below the scale. Cleft of the mouth very wide; intermaxillary
very long, styliform, tapering; maxillary absent. Teeth card-like,
recurved, unequal in size; the largest are in the lower jaw, and
provided with a single barb at the posterior margin of the point. Eye
small. Ventral fins long, nine-rayed, inserted below the anterior dorsal
rays; dorsal fin in the middle of the length of the body; adipose fin
small; anal of moderate length; caudal fin three-lobed, the lateral line
being continued along the central lobe. Centre of the vertebræ open in
the middle.
Two species only are known of this singular genus; both are
evidently inhabitants of considerable depths, and periodically come
nearer to the surface. One (H. nehereus) is well known in the East
Indies, being of excellent flavour. When newly taken its body is
brilliantly phosphorescent. When salted and dry it is known under the
names of “Bombay-ducks” or “Bummaloh,” and exported in large
quantities from Bombay and the coast of Malabar. The second
species (H. microchir) exceeds the other in length, and has been
found in the sea off Japan.
Fig. 269.—Scopelus boops.
Scopelus.—Body oblong, more or less compressed, covered with
large scales. Series of phosphorescent spots run along the lower side
of the body, and a similar glandular substance sometimes occupies
the front of the snout and the back of the tail. Cleft of the mouth very
wide. Intermaxillary very long, styliform, tapering; maxillary well
developed. Teeth villiform. Eye large. Ventrals eight-rayed, inserted
immediately in front of or below the anterior dorsal rays. Dorsal fin
nearly in the middle of the length of the body; adipose fin small; anal
generally long; caudal forked. Branchiostegals from eight to ten.
The fishes of this genus are small, of truly pelagic habits, and
distributed over all the temperate and tropical seas; they are so
numerous that the surface-net, when used during a night of
moderate weather, scarcely ever fails to enclose some specimens.
They come to the surface at night only; during the day and in very
rough weather they descend to depths where they are safe from
sunlight or the agitation of the water. Some species never rise to the
surface; indeed, Scopeli have been brought up in the dredge from
almost any depth to 2500 fathoms. Thirty species are known.
Gymnoscopelus differs from Scopelus in lacking scales.
Ipnops.—Body elongate, sub-cylindrical, covered with large, thin,
deciduous scales, and without phosphorescent organs. Head
depressed, with broad, long, spatulate snout, the whole upper surface
of which is occupied by a most peculiar organ of vision (or luminosity),
longitudinally divided in two symmetrical halves. Bones of the head
well ossified. Mouth wide, with the lower jaw projecting; maxillary
dilated behind. Both jaws with narrow bands of villiform teeth; palate
toothless. Pectoral and ventral fins well developed, and, owing to the
shortness of the trunk, close together. Dorsal fin at a short distance