324 ACANTHOPTERTGII. 



Family, XXIX— CEPOLID^, Bleeher. 



Tcmioidei, pt. CuV. 



Branchiostegals six : pseudobranchife. Body elongated and compressed. Eyes large and lateral. The 

 infraorbital bones do not articulate with the preopercle. Gill-openings wide, the membranes scarcely united 

 under the throat. Teeth in jaws of medium size. A long dorsal and anal fin more or less continuous with 

 the caudal. Ventral thoracic, with one spine and five rays. No prominent papilla near the vent. Scales 

 cycloid, small. Pyloric appendages few. 



Genus, 1 — Cepola, Linnceus. 

 Acanthocepola, Bleeker. 



Head obtuse. Cleft of moutli oUique, yape wide. Preopercle more or less armed. Palate edentulous. 

 Bleeker places those species with the head and opercles scaled, preopercles denticulated or spinate, and 

 the body covered with imbricate scales, as a separate genus, Acanthocepola. 



Geographical distrihtit ion.— Seas of Europe, through those of India, to China, and Japan. 



SYNOPSIS OP INDIVIDUAL SPECIES. 



1. Cepola ahhreviata, D. 67-74, A. 67-74. Length of head 6 to 7 in the total length. Red, with two 

 rows of golden spots along the sides. Seas of India to China. 



1. Cepola abbreviata, Plate LXVIII, fig. 4. 



Cuv. and Val. x, p. 403 ; Cantor, Catal. p. 178 ; Bleeker, Sumatra, p. 38 ; Giinther, Catal. iii. p. 488. 



Cepola varie<jata, Swainson, Fishes, ii, p. 402. 



B. vi, D. 67-74, P. 19, V. 1/5, A. 67-74, C. 13, Cibc. pyl. 8. 



Length of head 6 to 7, height of body 10 J in the total length. £'i/es— diameter 1/3 of length of head, 

 2/3 of a diameter fi-om end of snout, and 1/2 a diameter apart. Cleft of mouth oblique, the maxilla reaches to 

 below the middle of the eye. Vertical limb of preopercle rather rugose, a strong spine at its angle, followed by 

 four or five more along its lower limb. Teeth — in a single row in both jaws, those in the centre of 

 the mandible rather the largest. Fins— the dorsal commences above the hind edge of the opercle, its rays, 

 except the last two or three, are unbranched. The anal commences beneath the vertical from the eighth dorsal 

 ray, it and the dorsal are continuous mth the caudal. Scales — small but distinct : present on the cheeks and 

 opercles. C'oZoiws— redtlish, with about 12 pairs of red or golden spots along the sides. Caudal rays are said 

 by Cantor to be black. 



In Cuv. and Val. the formula of the fin rays from Mertens is given as follows :— D. 156, P. 18, V. 1/5, 

 A. 76 : Cantor gives, D. 72-74, P. 19, V. 1/5, A. 74, C. 13. 



In Bl. Schneider, p. 242, a Cepola striata is mentioned fi-om Tranquebar, but details are wantmg to even 

 show if it belongs to this family and not to Gohiidce. 



Habitat. — Coromandel coast of India, tkrough the Malay Archipelago to China, attaining at least a foot 

 in length. The specimen figured, a little less than the natural size, is from Dr. Jerdon's specimen referred to 

 in the Madr. J. L. and Sc. 1851, p. 139, thus, " Cepola— I got one specimen only of a very pretty species of 

 Pubben fish at Madras. It was red-silvered, and had two series of yellow spots on its sides." A coloured 

 figure of it is present amongst Sir W. Elliot's drawings of Indian fishes, and is termed Chawa aim, or Ghava 

 wahv,. 



