262 THE FISHES OF MALABAR. 



Order.— L OPHOBEANCHII. 



Fam. SYNGNATHID.E, Kaup. 

 Group HIPPOCAMPINiE, Bon. 



Genus HIPPOCAMPUS, Cuvier. 



Body heptagonal, laterally compressed : snout moderately elongated : mouth anterior : breast deve- 

 loped, it and the abdomen with acute ridges, the quadrangular tail exceeding the length of the body. The 

 lateral line connected with the inferior caudal ridge : the superior caudal ridge reaching as far as the 

 middle of the dorsal fin. The posterior portion of the head more or less elevated, with au occipital bone 

 bearing a coronet, which is surmounted by spines and knobs : orbit also spiny. Breast-ring with two or 

 three spines ; body having from ten to thirteen rings, all of which are spiny : the acuteness of the spines 

 and knobs decreases with age. Tail prehensile at the extremity, and destitute of any fin. Dorsal fin usually 

 rests upon three rings, but it may on any number up to six, of which two only form part of the tail ; the 

 anal fin often hidden in the pouch of the males, which is formed of thick skin, and only opens at its com- 

 mencement. Gill openings small, very narrow, circular, and placed high up at the extremity of the opercle, 

 close to the occiput. 



Hippocampus comes. 



Hippocampus comes, Cantor, Catal. p. 389, pi. xi. f. 2 {young) ; Kaup, Catal. Brit. Mus. 



Lophobranchiate fish, p. 10. 

 Coodra Meen, Mai. 



D. 16. P. 17. A. 4. Kings of body 11, of tail 33. 



Length of head ^ of total length. 



Eyes — Diameter equals T 2 T of total length of head, the anterior margins of the orbits situated 

 midway between the end of the snout and the posterior extremity of the opercle. 



Mouth anterior, small, triangular : the upper surface of the snout with a raised mesial longi- 

 tudinal ridge. Opercle with raised ridges passing downwards and outwards. 



There are great diversities in the modes in which the spines are placed in this species, and 

 amongst several from Cochin none are exactly similar. In the immature the nasal spine is present, 

 but absent in the mature. There are two sharp spines on the posterior superior angle of the orbit 

 directed backwards and outwards : a smaller one rather above the centre of the posterior margin 

 of the orbit : a longer and stronger one just above the superior margin of the opercle, and another 

 on a line between it and the first spine. There is a sharp spine on the lower profile beneath the 

 centre of the orbit, and a blunt one between it and the orbit : also a sharp spine on either edge of 

 the throat corresponding to the anterior extremities of two antero-lateral ridges ; whilst another 

 exists on a line close to the inferior edge of the base of the pectoral fin. The coronet is mode- 

 rately elevated, with from four to six blunt points surrounding its superior margin, the ridge 

 descending from it in the mesial line is also spined. 



Body heptagonal, one surface being posterior, two anterior, and two on either side : most of the 

 angles formed by the meetings of the sides are spined. On the first five rings of the anterior ridge 

 are no spines : then they become moderately developed, and above the ring on which the anal is 



