CHATODON, in ichthyology, a genus of fishes belonging to the order of thoraci. The teeth are very numerous, thick, falcatus, and flexible; the rays of the gills are six. The back-fin and the fin at the anus are fleshy and squamous. There are 23 species, distinguished from each other principally by the figure of the tail, and the number of spines in the back-fin. The most remarkable is the rostratus, or shooting-fish, having a hollow, cylindrical beak. It is a native of the East Indies, where it frequents the tides of the sea and rivers in search of food, from its singular manner of obtaining which it receives its name. When it spies a fly sitting on the plants that grow in shallow water, it swims on to the distance of four, five, or six feet; and then, with a surprising dexterity, it ejects out of its tubular mouth a single drop of water, which never fails striking the fly into the water, where it soon becomes its prey.