164 THE FISHES OF MALABAE. 



to the dorsal. Caudal generally lobed, the lower being usually the longest. Teeth in both jaws, in two or 

 three rows of different sizes : pharyngeal teeth conical ; absent on the vomer, except in the Belone vulgaris. 

 Scales small. Bones green. Gill openings very wide. Air vessel large. Csecal appendages absent. 



Belone caudimaculata. 



Belone caudimaculata, Guv. & Veil, xviii. p. 452 ; Cantor, Catal. p. 246. 

 Kuddera, A. Russell, pi. 176. 

 Coplah, Mai. 



B. xii. D. 13-14. P. 11. V. 6. A. 16-17. C. 15. 



Length of head ^, of pectoral -j- 1 ^, of base of dorsal fa, of base of anal ^, of caudal fa of 

 total length. Height of head fa, of body fa, of dorsal fa, of anal fa of total length. 



Eyes — Diameter fa of length of head, 1 diameter apart. 



Mouth from the gape to extremity three-tenths of the total length. Upper and lateral sur- 

 faces of snout compressed. The posterior margin of the maxilla reaches to beneath the centre of 

 the orbit. Central line of lower jaw elevated, and covered with transverse rough plates. Pre- 

 opercle wide ; opercle posteriorly rounded. Infraorbital space nearly flat, with a wide longitu- 

 dinal groove. 



Teeth — In upper jaw widely separated, sharp, straight, and directed slightly backwards ; in 

 the last ninth they are smaller, and more closely set ; between, or rather anterior to them, there 

 is a series of villiform ones, which are in two rows in the centre, and iu three or more at the base. 

 In the lower jaw the large teeth are anteriorly the same as in the upper ; there are two external 

 rows of villiform, one directed upwards, and the other rather outwards : which posteriorly increase 

 to two, three, or even more. 



Fins — Pectoral just behind the opercle, in the centre of the body : ventral rather nearer the 

 posterior extremity of the pectoral than to the commencement of the anal : anal in the last third 

 of body rather in advance of the dorsal, which last is highest in front, with the upper margin con- 

 cave : anal of the same shape. Caudal with rounded lobes. 



Scales — Over the body and opercles. 



Lateral line — Double ; the upper one passes from the superior margin of the opercle along the 

 upper fourth of the back, gradually rising until opposite the ventral, when it descends to the 

 centre and proceeds straight to the middle of the caudal. The lower lateral line at first commences 

 some distance before the pectoral in the lower fourth of the body, then rises to midway between 

 the termination of the pectoral and the commencement of the anal, and sinks again until it is close 

 to the base of the latter fin, from whence it gradually ascends, and joins the upper line close to 

 the caudal. 



Colours — Summit of head and back yellowish green, with minute brown dots, fading into 

 silvery on the sides, and white on the abdomen. Cheeks and opercles silvery. A deep blue longi- 

 tudinal band, bordered beneath by another broader one of silver, passes along the posterior half of 

 the sides. Dorsal, and sometimes the anal, bright yellow, and the rays dotted with brown. 

 Pectorals and ventral diaphanous, the latter occasionally with a black spot at the base. Caudal 

 yellowish or greenish, minutely dotted with black, and having a round bluish-black spot in the 

 centre near the root. Iris silvery ; upper surface of eye bluish-black. 



Grows to about two feet in length. It is only captured in the sea at Cochin, and at the mouth 



