THE FISHES OF MALABAR. 101 



Scales — Deciduous. 



Lateral line — Follows the curve of the back. 



Colours — Silvery with lilac reflections; dorsal, caudal, and anal fins pale yellow; dorsal 

 spines, rays, and membrane, minutely dotted with brown, their upper margins black : caudal with 

 a broad blackish margin : ventrals and pectorals white. Iris silvery, or pale golden. 



Grows to seven inches in length. Is considered good eating : the young are dried at 

 Penang and used for food. 



Habitat — Seas of India and Malaysia. 



Fam. CHROMIDES, Mull. 

 Genus ETEOPLUS, Guv. and Vol. 



Branchio>tegals, six: pseudobranchise absent. Body oblong, elevated, and compressed. Eyes lateral. 

 Cleft of mouth short. Teeth in one or two rows, compressed and lobate, none on palate. One dorsal fin 

 with a developed spinous portion : anal spines also numerous. Ventral thoracic with one spine and five 

 rays. The inferior pharyngeal bones triangular with a median suture. Anterior prominences of branchial 

 arches few, short, conical, and hard. Scales of moderate size, ctenoid. Lateral line interrupted. Air 

 bladder present. Pyloric appendages none. Stomach with a cscal appendage. 



Eteoplus Sueatensis. 



ChjEtodon Sueatensis, Bloch, t. 217. 

 Ch^etodon caeis, Ham. Buck. pp. 125, 372. 

 Eteoplus meleageis, Guv. & Vol. v. p. 486. 

 Eteoplus maculatus, Jerdon, Madras Journ. xv. p. 142. 

 Eteoplus Sueatensis, Giintker, Catal. iv. p. 266. 



B. vi. D. l6 {l°. P. 17. V. i A. jf. C. 16. L. 1. 45. L. tr. 21. 



Length of head T ^, pectoral \, base of dorsal a little above \, base of anal |, of caudal \ of 

 total length. Height of head \, of body nearly ^, of hard dorsal T X T , of soft dorsal \, of anal 

 spines r y, of anal rays \, of ventral -^ of total length. 



Eyes — High, not far from the profile. Diameter \ length of head, 2 diameters from end of 

 snout, and 1J diameters apart. 



Mouth oval, very compressed, and situated below the centre of the body. Profile rises 

 abruptly to the base of the dorsal, but is rather concave between the snout and the upper margin 

 of the orbit. Lower profile not quite so rounded as the upper. 



Lower jaw slightly the longest. Maxilla extends more than half way to the orbit. Preopercle 

 oblique and entire. Opercle entire. Shoulder bones entire. Nostrils situated about midway 

 between the eye and the snout. 



Teeth — In two rows in each jaw, compressed, and sharp in the centre, with a small lobe on 

 each side ; no teeth on the palate. 



Fins — Pectoral arises close behind the central line of the opercle ; the commencement of the 

 dorsal fin is in a fine above it : the ventral is beneath the fourth dorsal spine, and there is a very 



Y 



