Note 2458 — BOOK IX. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF FISHES.
John Bostock translation
Murænæ, like eels, have gills, but the orifice, Cuvier says, is much smaller than in the eel, and the opercula, under the skin, are so small as to be hardly perceptible; indeed, so much so, that modern naturalists, Lacepède, for instance, have denied the fact of their existence.