THE FISHES OF MALAl'.Ai:. 



201 



Colours— Back brownish grey, abdomen silvery, the whole with greenish yellow reflections : 

 the abdomen finely spotted with black. Dorsal fin diaphanous, with a blackish grey margin. 

 Pectoral blackish grey. Soft portion of the dorsal with a darkish centre. Ventral greyish, tipped 

 with white. Anal diaphanous, and tinged with yellow. Caudal tipped with black. 



It is never common, but rarely absent in Cochin on the Malabar coast during the cold months 

 of the year. Eaten by the Natives, but not esteemed as it is dry and insipid. It grows to a foot 



in length. 



Habitat— Bed Sea, Seas of India, Malaysia, and the Western Pacific. 



Genus HARPODON, pi, Lesueur. 



Branchiostegals, from twentv-three to twenty-five: pseudobranchias. Body elongated, rather com- 

 pressed Eyes small. Muzzle short, gape of mouth wide and cleft very deep, extending far behind the eyes : 

 ed-e of upper jaw formed entirely by the intermaxillaries, which are thin and long : marilknes absent 

 (rudimentary according to Valenciennes). First dorsal with a moderate number of rays, central: second or 

 adipose dorsal small. Pectoral long. Ventral with nine long rays inserted below the anterior ones of the 

 dorsal. Anal of moderate length. Caudal with three lobes, the lateral line being continued along the 

 central one Teeth on the intermaxillaries and lower jaw, also on the palatine and hyoid bones, and on the 

 tongue- the anterior palatine teeth are large and can be laid downwards. Body covered with thin diapha- 

 nous and deciduous scales: the bones of the head very soft, and partly modified into wxde muciferous 

 channels : the lateral canal along the body also wide, and having two openings, one above and one below 

 on each scale. Gill openings wide. Air bladder absent. Pyloric appendages numerous. 



* Haepodon neheeeus. 



Wana Motta, Russell, pi. 177 {adult), 

 Osmeeus neheeeus, Ham. Buck. pp. 209, 379 (adult). 

 Saueus ophiodon, Guv. & Vol. xxii. p. 490. 

 Saueus neheeeus, Cantor, Catal. p. 273. 

 Haepodon neheeeus, Giinther, Catal. v. p. 401. 

 Bombay Duck. Bummaloh. 



B xxiii-xxv. D. 12-13 | 0. P. 11-12. V. 9. A. 14-15. C. 19. Vert. 38. Ca3C.pyl.22. 



Length of head £, of pectoral from l to \, varying with the age of the fish being shorter 

 in the adult than in the immature, of caudal \ of the total length. Height of body \, of dorsal 

 A, of ventral \, of anal r 2 5 of the total length. 



Eyes-Diameter & of length of head, 2 diameters from end of snout, 4 diameters apart. 



Body elongated, rather compressed, at the occiput its height is one-eighth, opposite first 

 dorsal one-sixth, and opposite root of caudal one-twelfth of the total length. 



Jaws of equal length j the angle of the mouth is situated at the posterior fourth of the head. 

 The opercles membraneous, diaphanous, and all apparently blended together. The branchiostegous 

 membrane is narrow, but projects behind the posterior radiated angle of the opercle. The bran- 

 chiostegous rays hair-like, gradually increasing in length backwards, the posterior are discernible 

 through the lower portion of the opercle. The nostrils open vertically in front of the anterior 

 margin of the orbit, the anterior the largest. 



Teeth-" All are excessively slender, recurved, and like those of some of the gobioicia?, 

 erectile, but not flexible. They may be raised or laid down in the manner in which Cuvicr describes 



2 D 



