1J0 THE FISHES OF MALABAR. 



Fam. OPHIOCEPHALIDiE, Gunther. 

 Labyrinthici, pt., Cuvier. 

 Labyrinthibkanchh, pt., Owen. 

 Ophiocephaloidei, Bleeker. 



Genus OPHIOCEPHALUS, Block. 



Branchiostegals five : pseudobranehia? none. Body elongated, subcylindrical anteriorly. Head 

 depressed, covered superiorly with shield like scales. Cleft of mouth lateral, wide. Gill opening wide, the 

 membrane of both sides connected below the isthmus. A labyrinthiform cavity accessory to the gill cavity 

 for the purpose of retaining water. Tilliform teeth on jaws, vomer, and palate, sometimes with larger ones 

 intermixed. One long spineless dorsal and anal fin. Ventral thoracic, six rays, the outer one not 

 branched but articulated at its extremity. Scales usually large. Lateral Hue abruptly curved or sub- 

 interrupted. An air bladder. Pyloric appendages two. 



Ophiocephalus maeulius. 

 Sowarah, fiussell, pi. 163. 

 Ophiocephalus maeulius, Ham. Buck. pp. 65, 367, pi. 17, f. 19 ; Guv. & Val. vii. 



p. 432 ; Jerdon, Madras Jour. xv. 1848, p. 146 ; Gunther, Catal. iii. p. 478. 

 Ophiocephalus grandinosus, Guv. & Val. vii. p. 434, pi. 203. 

 Ophiocephalus leucopunctatus, SyJces, Trans. Zool. Soc. ii. p. 352, pi. 60, f. 3. 

 ? Ophiocephalus pseudomaeulius, Gunther, Catal. iii. p. 478 (? young). 

 Choaree verarl, and Cooravoo, Mai. 



B. v. D. 49-55. P. 18. V. 6. A. 31-36. C. 14. L. 1. 59-64. L. tr. %"§. 



Length of head \, of caudal ^, of base of dorsal fa, of base of anal J of total length. 

 Height of head fa, of body ], of dorsal fin in front portion ^, in posterior portion fa, of anal fin 

 in front portion fa, in posterior portion fa, of ventral j 1 ^ of total length. 



Eyes — Situated laterally, but a small portion on upper surface of the head, and they look upwards 

 and outwards. Diameter |- length of head, 1 diameter from end of snout, nearly 2 diameters apart. 



Head depressed and widest opposite the opercles, where it equals the height of the body. 

 Body elongated with rather compressed sides. Cheeks slightly bulging. Cleft of mouth wide. 

 Upper jaw rather protrusible. Maxilla extends half the length of the orbit behind its posterior 

 margin. Between the orbit and the angle of the preopercle are a series of from ten to eleven 

 very irregular scales. Opercle terminating in a bluntish point, and having about five transverse 

 series of scales. Lower jaw flat below, with a knob at the symphysis. Posterior nostril just in 

 advance of, and inferior to the orbit. 



Teeth — Numerous and villiform in jaws, vomer, and palate. In lower jaw they are most 

 numerous in the centre, whilst along each ramus there exists a single row of larger teeth posterior 

 to the villiform ones. 



Fins — Dorsal commences over the pectoral, and the ventral below its anterior third. Pectoral 

 does not quite extend to opposite the commencement of the anal, which arises under about the 

 seventeenth dorsal ray. There is a very short portion of the tail finless between the termination 

 of the vertical fins and the commencement of the caudal, but it is rather longer below than above. 

 Dorsal fin lowest in front, its extremity being twice the height of its anterior portion, the same 

 also obtains in the anal. Pectoral and caudal rounded. 



