No. 4(l922) THE COROMANDEL FLYING-FISH FISHERY 10? 



Some species of the closely allied genus Belo ne appear to have the 

 same habit, for Mr. Ramaswami Nayudu has shown me eggs 

 attached by long and slender filaments to a small feather which the 

 fisherman who brought them stated belonged to a fish of this 

 genus * ; Day records also eggs of Bclone having been foUnd attached 

 to the meshes of a mackerel net in the south of England. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE NEGAPATAM SPECIMEN. 



It is unfortunate that the only occasion when I had an opportu- 

 nity to see this fishery in operation off the Indian coast coincided 

 with a dearth of fish ; the other catamarans were equally 

 unsuccessful with ourselves, so the fishermen, having had no 

 catches for the previous week or more, considered the season at an 

 end, and the fishery closed. Hence no opportunity offered to get 

 further specimens. The single fish caught belongs to the smaller 

 of the two species of flying-fishes best known to the fishermen of 

 the Coromandel coast. The other and larger is the fine Cypsilurus 

 poecilopterus (Cuvier and Valenciennes) easily recognized by the 

 many dark spots on the pectoral fins. The smaller species where 

 the pectorals in life are dark purple in tint with a narrow hyaline 

 margin above and a wider one below, has not yet been identified. 

 It does not appear to belong to any of the species of Exocoetidac 

 described by Day! or by Weber and De Beauforti. 



The fin formula of the individual obtained at Negapatam is — 

 D. II ; A. II ; P. 15 ; V. 6 ; C. 17. 



Its length was 7% inches (200 mm.), inclusive of the caudal 

 fin. 



Subsequently I obtained particulars of five other adult indivi- 

 duals caught off Madras in the months of July and August in 

 previous years. They measured in length, respectively, 9/5, 8, 7*5, 8 

 and 8'2 inches over all. Considerable variation was shown in the 

 number of the dorsal rays, these being II, 9, 10, 10 and 12, respect- 

 ively. Curiously enough the largest individual had only seven 

 rays in the anal fin— probably an abnormality ; of the others three 

 had II rays and one 12. Four had 15 rays in the pectoral, the 

 fifth having 16; the ventral had 6 in all instances. 



* The mass of eggs was attached when found to a piece of floating wood ; the feather 

 was merely entangled with some of the eggs, 

 t The Fishes of India, London, 1878-88. 



t The Fishes of the Indo- Australian Archipelago, Vol. IV, Leiden, 1922. 

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