Zoology.-] NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. [Fishes. 



Plate 133. 



BR AM A RAYI (Bloch). 



Ray's Sea Bream. 



[Genus BRAMA (Schnider). (Sub-kingdom Vertebrata. Class Pisces. Sub-class 

 Teleostei. Order Acanthopterygii. Family Scomberidas. Sub-family Coryphceninae.) 



Gen. Char. — Body ovate, elevated, mucb compressed laterally ; scales rather small ; cleft 

 of mouth very oblique, lower jaw longest ; opercular pieces with smooth entire edges ; seven 

 branchiostegal rays ; teeth large, conical, one outer row on both jaws, with a few rows of 

 minute ones at base, a few, or none, on the vomer, and a patch of small ones on each palatine 

 bone. Dorsal fin elongate, with three or four slender spines in front, and covered with small 

 scales ; anal like dorsal, with two or three slender spines in front ; caudal deeply forked ; 

 ventrals small, under pectorals, of one slender spine and five branched rays ; pectoral long, 

 pointed. No swim-bladder ; about five pyloric appendages.] 



D. 3 + 38 ; A. 2 . 29; P. 19; V. 1 + 5; C. ff; L.L. 94£f, 



Description. — Greatest depth of body under origin of dorsal fin, equal to ^ 

 the total length including caudal fin; thickness about ^ the height. Head 

 short, about 3 of total length and about ^ higher than long, profile from front of 

 dorsal fin to chin forming a parabolic curve; cleft of mouth extending obliquely 

 upwards, ending at the vertical of anterior edge of eye ; lower jaw longest, with a 

 chin-like angle below the mouth ; the curve of the head and nape and the less 

 convex one of the throat to ventral fin intersecting at the chin nearly at right angles ; 

 orbits large, midway on a vertical line from top of head to lower edge of subopercu- 

 lum. Teeth : There are no teeth on the vomer in some specimens and 1 or 3 in 

 others ; none on the smooth fleshy tongue ; one row of large, conical teeth on edge 

 of upper jaw, with a band of small ones within ; two rows of conical teeth, with a 

 narrow band of minute ones between them, on the under jaw, the inner row largest 

 and hooked inwards ; an oblong patch of 7 or 8 small hooked teeth on each palatine 

 bone. Gill-openings extending to middle of lower jaw at throat, their membranes 

 there uniting and covered by a fold of skin. Fins: Dorsal falcately lengthened in 

 front, posterior two-thirds low, of 3 slender spines lodged in the front edge, and 38 

 branched rays, covered with small scales; anal smaller than and originating a little 

 behind the dorsal, falcately lengthened in front, hinder three-fourths low, of 2 

 small, slender spines in front edge and 29 branched rays, the second and third 

 longest, rapidly shortening to the ninth, all covered with scales ; pectorals long, 

 falcately pointed, about one-third of the height above ventral edge, reaching to 

 middle of anal, of 19 rays, the sixth and seventh longest; ventrals small, of 1 

 slender spine, half the length of the others, and 5 branched rays ; caudal deeply 

 forked, of about 23 rays, those of the pointed lobes nearly four times as long as 

 those of middle. Scales : Absent on front of snout and margins of preoperculum, 

 on all rest of body higher than long, semielliptical or oblong, with about four 

 undulations in posterior margin, which is finely serrated by the ends of very fine 

 rough thread-like radiating strice ; lateral line indistinctly marked, of 94 scales, 

 running parallel with back at one-fourth of the height .from it, with about 8 small 

 ones beyond on tail; 15 scales from front of dorsal to lateral line, and 28 from 



Vol. II.— Decadb XIV.— t. 127 



