344 ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



Family, XXXIII— ATHERINIDiE, Gunther, 



Branchiostegals five or six: pseudobranchise. Four gills: gill-opening wide. Body more or less 

 elongated and somewhat sub-cylindrical. Eyes lateral. Gape of mouth of moderate width : cleft not very 

 deep. Teeth minute. Two dorsal fins, not joined, the spines of the first feeble, and less in number than the 

 rays of the second, which is similar to the anal : ventral abdominal, with one spine and five rays. Scales of 

 medium size, cycloid. Lateral-line indistinct. Pyloric appendages, if present, few. Air-vessel present. 

 Vertebrae numerous in the abdominal and caudal portions. 



Geographical distributmi.— These pretty little fishes, with a burnished silvery lateral band, are distributed 

 in nearly all the seas of temperate and tropical regions, they are captured in numbers along the coast, and also 

 in estuaries and tidal rivers when not far removed from the sea." 



CTses. —Although so small, being rarely 3 inches in length, they are dried in the sun and exported to 

 distant markets. l^Iany are imported into the Western coast of India from the Arabian Gulf, but these before 

 being sun-di-ied are evidently soaked in brine. 



Genus, 1 — Atheeina, Artecli. 



Body someivhat sub-cylmdrical, loiih sliglithj compressed sides. Snout more or less oUu.se, with the deft of the 

 mouth oUique, extending backwards to at least as far as to lelmu the anterior edge of the orbit. Teeth very minute, 

 hut usually present on jaws, palate, and tongue. Ventrals some distance posterior to the pectorals. Scales of moderate 

 size. Air-vessel present. Pyloric appendages, when present, few. Ova comparatively very large. A silvery lateral 

 band. 



SYNOPSIS OP SPECIES. 

 a. Teeth on palate. 



1. Atherina pinguis, D. 5-6 | -j^, A. ^-^l^, L. 1. 42-45. East coast of Africa, seas of India, Malay Archi- 

 pelago, and beyond. 



2. Atherina Forshalii, D. 5-6 | ^.^s, A. Tj-Ti^ L. 1. 40. Red Sea, East coast of Africa, seas of India to 

 the Malay Archipelago. 



3. Atherina d'nodecimalis, D. 5 ] i, A. -jL, L. 1. 35. Ceylon and Malay Archipelago. 



b. No palatine teeth. 



4. Atherina melanostigma, D. 5 | iV, A. -jij, L. 1. 37. Madras. 



A. Teeth on palate. 



1. Atherina pinguis. 



Atherina hepsetus, Forsk. p. 69 (not Linn.). 



Atherina pinguis, Lacep. v, p. 372, pi. xi, f . 1 ; Bleeker, Act. Soc. Ned. Ind. viii, and Sumatra, viii, p. 24 ; 

 Giinther, Catal. iii, p. 399 ; Klunz. Verb. z. b. Ges. Wien, 1870, p. 833. 



Atherina affinis, Benn. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1831, i, p. 166. 



Atherina pectaralis, Cuv. and Val. x, p. 447. 



B. vi, D. 5-6 I tt, P. 16, V. 1/5, A. -nr'Tir, C. 17, L. 1. 42-45, L. tr. 7, Vert. 20/23. 



Length of head 4^ to 4f, of caudal 5i, height of body Sf in the total length. Eyes— diameter 215 of 

 length of bead, 1/2 a diameter from end of snout, and 1 apart. The width of the head equals two-thirds of its 

 length, and its height equals its length excludincn the snout. Upper jaw overlapping the lower : the maxilla 

 reaches to below the first fourth of the eye. Tee^/i— distinct in the jaws, vomer, and palatines. Ftns—the 

 posterior end of the opercle is midway between the snout and base of the first dorsal fin. Colours— the silvery 

 lateral band includes the whole of the third and upper quarter of the fourth rows of scales : a blackish mark on 

 the upper cdsje of the eye, also on posterior end of the pectoral and caudal fins. 



"The "abdominal and caudal portions of the vertebral column are nearly of equal length : the apophyses 

 of the anterior caudal vertebrae do not form a canal for the air-bladder, as in A. hoyeri and other species.' 

 Gunther, 1. c. . 



Eahitot.—'EAsi coast of Africa, seas of India to the Malay Archipelago and beyond. It attains at least 

 h\ inches in length. 



