6 THE FISHES OF MALABAR. 



It grows to a large size in Malabar. Cantor mentions one captured at Pinang, the weight of 

 which exceeded 130 pounds. It is good eating. 

 Habitat — The seas of India and Malaysia. 



Serranus DIACANTHUS. 

 Serranus diacanthus, Guv. & Val. ii. p. 319; Giinther, Catal. i. p. 110. 

 Killi meen, Mai. 



B. vii. D. |l. P. 19. V. \. A. f . C. 16-17. L. r. about 90. 



Length of head J, of pectoral ^, of caudal \, of base of dorsal J, of base of anal } of total 

 length. Height of head §, of body -J, of hard dorsal ^> of soft dorsal |, of ventral T 2 g, of anal 

 i_ 



8 



of total length. 



Eyes— Diameter \ length of head, \\ diameters apart, 1^ diameters from end of snout. 



The maxilla reaches to beneath the posterior margin of the orbit. Preorbital entire : sub- and 

 interopercles entire : preopercle with a roughly serrated posterior vertical margin, the serratures 

 becoming larger at the angle which is cut nearly square, the four lower teeth flat and exceedingly 

 sharp, horizontal portion oblique, entire. Opercle with three spines, the central one of which is the 

 largest, the other two being nearly concealed. 



Teeth — Sharp and numerous in upper and lower jaws, vomer, and palate. A large canine on 

 either intermaxillary, teeth in maxilla largest in front and curved backwards ; in lower jaw largest 

 behind and also directed backwards. 



Fins — First dorsal spine slightly more than half the height of second, which is four-fifths of 

 the height of the third, from thence all are the same. Ventral spine rather weak, not quite half the 

 length of the rays. First anal spine not quite half so long as the second which is rather shorter 

 than the third, which last is the strongest. In young specimens the comparative length of the 

 spine to the rays is more than obtains in the adult. Fins rounded. 



Lateral fine — In upper fifth of body, on sixteenth row of scales. 



Colours — Back brownish, fading into white on the abdomen, whilst the whole of the fish even 

 over its brachiostegal rays is covered with bright orange spots, intermingled on the head and tail 

 with brown ones. Head darkish, one vertical brown band commences at the margin of the first 

 four dorsal spines, passes down them and descends nearly as low as the pectoral fin : a second arises 

 between the seventh and ninth spines and is lost on the abdomen : two more descend from the soft 

 portion of the dorsal fin, and a fifth crosses the tail between the termination of the dorsal fin and 

 the origin of the caudal : whilst a sixth broad one crosses the base of this last fin. Pectoral 

 reddish spotted with yellow : eye dark-brown, its upper part of the deepest tint. 



Sometimes the caudal, pectoral, and ventral are unspotted, but marked with darker shades, 

 and the bands are continued on to them. In young specimens the bands are most distinct, when 

 the fish becomes upwards of a foot in length they begin to fade, likewise they always become 

 more or less indistinct after death, and sometimes quite disappear. 



The descriptions of the Serranus suillus, C. ty V. and S. salmonoides, Lacep. apparently taken 

 from large specimens, seem hardly to be dissimilar from the S. diacanthus, C. fy V. excepting 

 that the latter is banded : but as this portion of the colouration usually becomes obsolete in large 

 specimens the distinction between the species appears to be still a desideratum. 



Grows to a large size, and is good eating. 



Habitat — The seas of India, China, and the Mauritius. 



