186 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



jaws are equal, the cleft of the mouth does not reach the line of 

 the eye. The nostrils are nearer to the eye than to the lips, the 

 posterior is an oval aperture, the anterior lies in a skinny tube. 

 The gill rakers are short and stout, ten on the lower limb of the 

 first arch. 



Teeth. — A pair of canines anteriorly in each jaw, the lower 

 biting between the upper ; the lateral teeth, of which there are 

 eleven in the upper and nine in the lower jaw on each side, are 

 conical, and regularly decrease in size from before, backwards. 

 One or two canines at the posterior angle of the upper jaw on 

 each side. 



Fins. — The dorsal fin commences above the skinny margin of 

 the operculum ; the spinous portion is low, its longest spine, the 

 ninth, being one-fourth the length of the head ; the rays are sub- 

 equal in length, one-half longer than the last spine. Beneath 

 this the anal commences, its rays are .similar to those of the dorsal 

 and it terminates evenly with them. The ventral, placed beneath 

 the pectoral, is very short ; the longest ray, the second, 2'-4 in the 

 length of tlie head, the pectoral is one-half longer than the ventral 

 is rather pointed above and rounded below. The caudal is sub- 

 truncate or slightly rounded, the height of its peduncle equal to 

 half the length of the head. 



Scales. — Head granular and crowded with pores, naked with 

 the exception of a row of incomplete scales at the border of the 

 postorbital and three rows of large scales on the posterior part of 

 the opercle. The scales of the body are large, those on the chest 

 much smaller, there are no scales at the bases of the fins, but a 

 row runs up the proximal half of the caudal membrane between 

 each ray. With the exception of a very slight curve anteriorly, 

 the lateral line runs straight along twenty scales, it drops two 

 scales and passes obliquely upwards along the side of the tail. 



Colours. — In spirits reddish-brown, around the eye is a series 

 of irregular radiating black marks, which below and behind enclose 

 yellow areas. On the interopercular membrane these yellow 

 marks tend to form large bars, wider than the interspaces and not 

 bounded by black. The markings on the body are equally 

 irregular. Five broad brown blotches may be traced on the back 

 passing down the sides. The row of scales below the lateral line 

 and other scattered scales possess opalescent blotches, and the 

 lowest four or five rows of scales of tlie body are almost wholly 

 of this colour, those on the chest being especially brilliant. Most 

 of the scales of the head, back, and sides have one or more black 

 dots. The dorsal and anal fins have each an indistinct dark band 

 at the base, and each ray bears two or three white spots. The 

 dorsal membrane also is darker in the region of the dark body 

 marks; the pectoral and the ventral are without markings, but the 

 caudal is somewhat mottled and carries white spots. 



