﻿20 GANGETic FISHES. Order II. 



scales^ but the body is not so slimy as that of the common eel. 

 The vent is placed before the middle. 



1st Species. — Ophisurus hijala. Plate V. Fig. 5. 



An ophisurus with the upper jaw the longest, and with a 

 row of pale spots on the fore part of the lateral line. 



This I found in the rivers of Bengal, both salt and 

 fresh. The natives have an imagination that it proceeds 

 from the ear of the porpoise, and one of its names implies 

 this circumstance. It does not grow to above eighteen inches 

 in length. 



The colour of the under parts is white ; the upper are thick- 

 ly covered with green dots, which, before the vent, descend 

 lower than the lateral line, but towards the tail this line sepa- 

 rates the dotted from the white part. The pale spots on the 

 lateral line reach as far back as the vent, and are round and 

 contiguous. 



The head is as thick as the body. The eyes are high. 



The lateral line is straight, and higher a little towards the 

 shoulders than on the tail. 



The dorsal fin extends from the head to within a tenth of 

 an inch of the point of the tail, contains from two hundred 

 and thirty to two hundred and forty undivided rays, nearly of 

 an equal length, and can be lodged in a longitudinal furrow. 

 The pectoral fins are very small and rounded, and are near the 

 middle of the sides : each contains eight divided rays. The 

 anal fin runs from the vent almost as far back as the dorsal, 

 and contains about one hundred and seventy fine undivided 

 rays, nearly of an equal length. 



2d Species — Ophisurus boro. 

 kxi ophisurus devoid of spots or lateral line, with the upper 



