﻿264 GANGETic FISHES. Older V. 



6th Species. — Cyprinus morar. Plate XXXI. Fig. 75. 



A Cyprinus of the Chela kind, with eight rajs in each ven- 

 tral fin ; with twelve in that behind the vent ; with ten in that 

 of the back ; and with the edge of the belly smooth. 



The Morar [Morur] I have found in the rivers Yamuna and 

 Tista, two large but distant branches of the Ganges, It is 

 about a span in length, higher flavoured than any species in 

 this division, somewhat resembling a smelt, and, by the natives, 

 is sought after as a delicacy. Its colour is silver, with a green 

 back, and all the fins clear, except that of the tail, which is 

 yellowish, and stained with black. 



The head is oval, and blunt. The mouth is very small, low, 

 and horizontal. The Jaws protrude in opening ; and the up- 

 per is the longest, has a fleshy lip, and is undivided at the 

 end. Each nostril has only one aperture, near the eye, which 

 is of moderate size, and has the longest axis of the pupil in a 

 vertical position. The membranes of the gill-covers are expos- 

 ed to view. 



The edffe of the back is blunt. Each side has two lateral 

 lines ; the upper straight, the under parallel to the edge of the 

 belly. Above each pectoral and ventral fin is a scale-like ap- 

 pendant. The scales are large, and readily separate. 



The three first rays of the back fin are undivided and smooth, 

 the first of them being minute ; the others are branched, and 

 the last split to the root. The pectoral fins are low down, and 

 shorter than the head ; each has fifteen rays. The ventral fins 

 are small. The fin behind the vent commences near that or- 

 gan, and the three first of its rays are undivided, and the 

 others branched, the last being split to the bottom. The lobes 

 of the tail fin are well marked, and contain about twenty dis- 

 tinct rays, besides some that are short and compacted. 



