THE FISHES OF MALABAR. 2-17 



green. Eye silvery, with a purplish tinge along its upper half. Dorsal, caudal, and anal dirty 

 white, margined with deep black. Pectorals dirty yellow. 



It grows to eight feet in length, and is generally considered good eating. Bkeker observes 

 that it is coarse in the Straits. Wounds from its teeth are much dreaded. 



Habitat — Seas and estuaries of India and Malaysia. 



Sub-Fam. OPHISUROIDEI, Sleeker. 

 Group OPHISURI, Sleeker. 



Genus OPHICHTHYS, AM. 



MuRiENOPSis, Les. 



PiECILOCEPHALUS, Lp. 



Centrurophis, microdonophis, c.ectlophis, HEEPETOICHTHYS, elapsopis, echiopsis, 



SCYTALOPHIS, LEPTORHINOPHIS, et CRYPTO PTERUS, Kdlip. 

 Branchiostegals, from seventeen to thirty-five. Body eel-like or vermiform, greatly elongated, its 

 height from one-twentieth to one-fortieth in its length. Cleft of mouth moderate or large. Lips not 

 frino-ed ; posterior nostril perforating the upper lip on its internal or lower aspect. Teeth very or mode- 

 rately acute, situated in from one to three rows on the palatines and mandibular, and in from one to four 

 rows on the vomer. Dorsal, pectoral, and anal fins well developed ; no fin at end of tail : the dorsal com- 

 mences above or behind the branchial aperture, which is single, semi-lunar, and on each side. Heart near 

 to the branchial aperture. No scales. 



* Ophichthys ornatissimus. 



Herpetoichthys ornatissimus, Kaup, Catal. Brit. Mus. p. 7, fig. 5. 



Total length 20-88 in. Length of tail, 9'46 in. Length from the tip of the snout to the 

 gill openings, 2-56 in. Length of the pectoral 0-63 in. 



Head depressed, so that the eyes which are near to the end of the snout are closer to the upper 

 surface than they are distant from each other laterally. Snout short : jaws of nearly equal length. 

 Anterior tubular nostril at the extremity of the snout and the hinder one at the commencement of 

 the outer row of the palatine teeth : between the two on the border of the upper lip there is a small 



cutaneous tag. Gullet wide. 



Teeth Nasal six : three of them on the mesial line and the foremost, two of them standing 



nearly abreast. Vomerine teeth nine, standing irregularly to the right and left. Exterior palatine 

 teeth sixteen, inner row twenty. Mandibular teeth twenty-four. 



Fins. Pectoral with twenty-four rays. The dorsal fin begins 0-59 in. behind the tip of the 



pectoral, and is not much developed. 



C i ours Irreo-ular dark spots on the head. On the occiput a transverse line of white spots, 



and two longitudinal ones : while between the eyes there are curved whitish lines. Along the 

 lateral line there are sixteen or seventeen large round black spots, which are parted by another 

 band of spots of different sizes. Dorsal fin with black marginal spots and stripes.— {Kaup.) 



This specimen is said to have been brought from Malabar by Dussumier. 



Habitat — Malabar. 



