230 THE FISHES OF MALABAR. 



Genus SARDINELLA, Val. 



Branchiostegals, six. Body elongated and in most species the abdomen trenchant and toothed. Cleft 

 of mouth small, upper jaw the shortest. One dorsal, medial : ventral opposite, and anal some distance 

 posterior to the dorsal. Teeth on the palatine and pterygoid bones as well as on the tongue : none on the 

 jaws or on the vomer. Scales large or of moderate size. Air vessel long. 



Sardinella Neohowii. 



Sardinella Neohowii, Guv. & Val. xx. p. 274. 

 Charlay, Mai. Oil Sardine. 



B. vi. D. 17. P. 17. V. 9. A. 16. C. 17. L. 1. 45. L. tr. 13. 



Length of head \, of pectoral \, of base of dorsal J, of base of anal \, of caudal £ of total 

 length. Height of head £, of body A, of dorsal £ of the total length. 



Byes — Bather close to upper profile. Each have an anterior and posterior rather broad 

 adipose membrane : diameter 4, of length of head, 1 diameter apart, and a little more than 1 dia- 

 meter from end of snout. 



Body rather elongated, back broad, sides slightly compressed, abdominal surface rather 

 rounded. Profile of back convex, the base of the dorsal being situated on the most superior part : 

 abdominal profile not so convex as that of the back. 



Mouth anterior, lower jaw the longest, the upper jaw slightly notched in its centre, and convex 

 along its lower margin : lower jaw compressed and widest posteriorly. Maxilla widened by the 

 addition of two supplementary bones, its posterior extremity extends to under the orbit. Opercle 

 half as wide as high, its upper margin nearly straight, its posterior rather concave in its upper 

 third, slightly convex in its lower third. Subopercle nearly square, one third as high as opercle. 

 Preopercle wide, its posterior margin rather oblique, angle produced and rounded, lower limb hori- 

 zontal. Interopercle large. Gill openings wide. Branchiostegous membrane partially uncovered. 



Teeth— None apparent in the jaws, or on the vomer, but fine ones on the tongue, the palate, 

 and the pterygoids. 



Fins — Pectoral arises close to, and just beneath the posterior angle of the subopercle : the 

 dorsal rather nearer to the snout than it does to the base of the caudal, the seventh ray being 

 in about the centre of the body : ventral under the posterior third of the dorsal : and the anal 

 in the posterior third of the body. First dorsal rays short, the third the highest, the upper 

 margin of the fin concave, its last ray very short. Pectoral pointed. Ventral abdominal, and 

 triangular, first ray undivided. Anal highest anteriorly, its lower margin concave. Caudal lobed 

 in its posterior half, its base wide. 



Scales — Longest diameter vertical : none on the head. 



Colours — Green with golden reflections, abdomen silvery shot with purple. Head of the same 

 colour as the body with a large greenish gold spot on the upper margin of the opercle and pre- 

 opercle. Dorsal sea green. Caudal stained with green. The other fins transparent. 



Arrives in some years in enormous numbers, and from it fish oil is prepared, when Dussumier 

 was in Malabar, probably about 1827, he observed that those not eaten were used for manuring 

 the fields as they were too fat to salt well ; at the present time, mostly from this species, an average 

 of upwards of seven thousand pounds worth of fish oil is annually exported from Malabar. But 

 the oil sardine is very capricious as to its arrival and departure, thus in 1855-56 from the port of 



