willoughby's char. 263 



fin at its root not overlapped by the gill-covers, the rays 

 thirteen or fourteen; ventral nine or ten, situated below the 

 two last rays of the dorsal. Scales thin and small. Colour on 

 the sides of the back dark sea-green, blackish on the back, 

 and on the greater part of the dorsal and caudal fins. Sides 

 with a slight silvery shade, passing into a beautiful deep red 

 on the belly; pectorals greenish, passing into reddish posteriorly, 

 the upper border white; ventral fins red, with a white outer 

 margin and a blackish shade within the margin; anal reddish, 

 with a blackish shade over the whole of the middle, and with 

 a white anterior margin; sides of the head silvery, the lower 

 parts minutely dotted with black. Number of the vertebrae 

 fifty-nine. The length rarely exceeds ten inches, but it has 

 been known above fifteen. 



