﻿106 GANGETic FISHES, Order IV. 



last are undivided and short. The ventral fins are short and 

 near each other : their prickle is strong. The fin behind 

 the vent is high before, and toward the end gradually becomes 

 lower : besides the prickles, of which the first is very short, it 

 contains seven branched rays, of which the last is split to the 

 root. The tail fin is deeply divided, and contains seventeen 

 distinct rays, besides some short compacted ones. 



2d Species. — Chanda ruconius. Plate XII. Fig. 35. 



A chanda with one dorsal fin, containing eight prickles and 

 sixteen soft rays; with fourteen soft rays in the fin behind 

 the vent ; and with the body covered with scales slightly dia- 

 phanous, and of a silver colour, having transverse dotted black 

 bars across the back. 



This may perhaps be the Zeus kleinii of Walbaum in his 

 edition of Artedi, a fish which I cannot trace in Bloch or La 

 Cepede. It has also a strong resemblance to the Komah karak 

 of Russell, (Indian Fishes, Vol. I. No. 63;) but the latter has 

 more of a rhomboidal form, yellow bars on the back, and 

 larger teeth ; nor does Dr Russell mention, that any of the 

 bones of the head are indented on the edge. 



The Ruconius or Ruconi chanda of the natives is found in 

 the estuaries of the Ganges, and is very nearly allied to the 

 Zeus insidiator, which the natives of Bengal call Ectuntia chan- 

 da. It is a very beautiful fish, seldom exceeding three inches 

 in length. It is oval, but rather sharp at both ends, and is 

 short and narrow in proportion to its height. The whole, ex- 

 cept the fins, which are clear and unspotted, is of a bright sil- 

 ver colour, with many transverse black bars, formed of nume- 

 rous dots, and descending to the middle of each side. Al- 

 though the bright colour of the scales conceals the ribs, the 



muscles are visible. 



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