THE FISHES OF MALABAR. 



103 



Colours -Back bluish silver, abdomen whitish silver, the wholo being glossed over with a 

 slightly golden tint. Three or four horizontal lines of black spots, with bronze reflections, form 

 from eight to ten vertical bands descending along the upper half of the body. The upper surface 

 of the head, cheeks, and lower jaw, all of burnished silver. Dorsal tipped with black : ventral 

 white. Pectoral light yellow. Caudal yellowish, and stained at the end with brown. 



This is an exceedingly common fish in Malabar, and quantities of it, along with other species 

 of the same genus, are kept for consumption during the monsoon, as owing to the small amount 

 of intestines and the compressed form of the body very little salt is necessary for their preservation. 

 As the salt tax falls heavily on the poor classes of Natives, they evade it, along the coast (at least 

 in the Native States of Malabar), by opening and cleansing this little fish, soaking it in the sea, 

 and drying it in the sun. It is of course but partially salted, and when eaten during the monsoon 

 is in a semi-putrid state, thereby giving rise to attacks of diarrhoea and dysentery. 



Habitat— Seas of India and Malaysia. Said to be occasionally captured in fresh water. 



Equula edentula. 



Scomber edentulus, Block, t. 428. 

 Komah karah, Bussell, pi. 63. 

 Equula ensifera, Guv. So Vol. x. p. G6. 

 Equula coma, Guv. & Veil. x. p. 76. 



TOTTAH KARAH, BllSSell, pi. 62. 



Equula caballa, Guv. & Veil. x. p. 73 ; Cantor, Catal. p. 146. 

 Equula edentula, Gimther, Catal. ii. p. 498. 



B.v. D.tV P. 17. V.i. A.&. C.17. 



Length of head \, of pectoral \, of caudal \, base of dorsal $, base of anal J of total length. 

 Height of head J, of body \, of hard dorsal \, of soft dorsal ^ of ventral \, of anal spines \, of 

 anal rays -^ of total length. 



Eyes— Diameter J length of head, § of a diameter from end of snout, 1 diameter apart. 



Upper profile rather more curved than the lower. 



Mouth directed nearly horizontally, opening moderate ; intermaxillaries rather convex supe- 

 riorly and equal to one and a quarter diameters of the orbit. Mandibulse very concave below; 

 interorbital cavity rather broad, coming to a point opposite the posterior end of the orbit, and 

 having a longitudinal ridge along the anterior portion of the groove. A slight roughness^ exists 

 along the superior superciliary ridge, where there are two rather strong supraorbital spines directed 

 backwards. Opercle narrow, posteriorly angular, and its greatest width not equalling half its 

 height. Lower margin of the horizontal line of the preopercle rather strongly serrated, its length 

 being rather more than half that of its vertical lirnb ; angle scarcely rounded. 



Teeth — Small, and concealed by rather thick lips. 



pins—Pectoral arises just below the end of opercle, and scarcely in advance of the dorsal and 

 ventral which are on a line. Anal commences opposite the eighth spine of the dorsal. First 

 spine of the dorsal very short ; second rather more than half the height of the body, with a deep 

 groove down its anterior margin, and two sevenths longer than the third spine, which has on 

 its lower half anteriorly a flat serrated bony expansion, becoming gradually wider inferiorly, so 

 that it extends as far as the next spine. Fourth spine somewhat shorter, and serrated anteriorly. 



