200 



Colours, yellowish brown, with series of small black dots and splashes above 

 and below the lateral line. 

 Length nearly two feet. 

 Off Malabar coast, 636 fathoms. 

 Regd. No. 14009. 

 Distribution : Off Fiji Is. 315 fathoms; Arabian Sea. 



Ueoconger, Kaup. 

 162. Uroconger vicinus, Vaillant. 



Vroconger vicinus, Vaillant, Exp. Sci. Travailleur et Talisman, Poiss. p. 86, pi. vi., fig. 1 : Alcook, Ann. Mag. 

 Nat. Hist., X., 1892, p. 363 : Goode and Bean, Oceanic Ichthyology, p. 138. 



Length of the head, measured to the gill-opening, not much more than half 

 the distance between the gill-opening and the vent, and between a seventh and 

 an eighth of the total. 



Body high for an eel ; its greatest height being rather more than half the 

 length of the head. 



Muciferous cavities of the head well developed, the pores on the snout and 

 in a line running from the mandibular symphysis towards the gill-opening being 

 very conspicuous. 



Snout about twice as long as the eye and between a third and a fourth the 

 length of the head. Anterior nostril subtubular, situated not far from the end 

 of the snout, difficult to distinguish from the mucous pores : posterior nostril 

 situated just above the eye. 



The mouth-cleft reaches at least to the middle of the eye. Teeth large, 

 especially on the premaxillae and at the anterior end of the maxillary and mandi- 

 ble. Vomerine teeth reduced to two large ones — one behind the other — at the 

 anterior end. 



Gill-openings of moderate size, separated by an interval greater than their 

 own greatest diameter. 



Lateral line very distinct, its pores white. 



The dorsal fin begins about a snout-length behind the gill-opening. Pec- 

 torals narrow, pointed, nearly as long as the combind eye and snout. 



Colours purplish brown. 

 The ripe female is 25 inches long. 



Bay of Bengal, 475 fathoms ; Arabian Sea, off Malabar coast, 430 and 636 

 fathoms. 



Distribution : Cape Verde and Atlantic coasts of Morocco ; Indian seas. 



