78 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 122 



In general, specimens from the western and northern Indian Ocean 

 appear to have fewer spots on the sides than do Pacific Ocean speci- 

 mens, but this character is difficult to ev^aluate. One collection of 

 Seychelles Island specimens (ANSP 102188) as opposed to others, 

 contained specimens with very large spots, over half the orbital diam- 

 eter in size. Other specimens in the same collection exhibited paired 

 broken bands on the sides, and alternating pale and diffusely dusky 

 stripes on the lips. Specimens from the Seychelles, Mauritius, Mada- 

 gascar, and East Africa tend to have a fusion of the spots in the 

 humeral area which gives the appearance of a noticeable blotch, but 

 this fusion is by no means a consistent feature. Among other Indian 

 Ocean populations, specimens from India may or may not have a 

 humeral blotch, and specimens from the Cocos Islands (with the pos- 

 sible exception of the holotype of Salarias arenatus) do not. Dark 

 humeral blotches or slender spots appeared variably on specimens 

 from Pacific Ocean and South China Sea localities but were common 

 only in collections from Rarotonga and Fiji. 



Meristic and proportional variation. — Variation in the number 

 of lateral (as opposed to mesial) cirri branches on the main supra- 

 orbital cirrus appears to occur in certain populations. Since the 

 number of cirri is also dependent on size (table 31), one must select 

 specimens of about 40 mm SL or longer to insure that some lateral 

 cirri, if they are to be developed, will be present. Under these cir- 

 cumstances it was found that specimens from the coast of India 

 usually lack lateral branches (24 of 42 specimens) whereas specimens 

 from the various Pacific populations almost always have at least one 

 laterally placed cirrus (exception: 2 of 24 specimens from the Palaus) 

 and frequently as many as three or four (up to seven). Seychelles 

 Islands specimens all had lateral cirri; however, specimens from the 

 South China Sea commonly lacked lateral cirri (the 2 specimens from 

 Hong Kong; 10 of 44 specimens from the Viet Nam coast; 2 of 12 

 specimens from the Thailand coast). Specimens from Western 

 Australia may lack lateral cirri but the supraorbital cirri of specimens 

 from this area appeared to have been abnormally reduced or aborted, 

 and the lack of lateral cirri may be teratological. There does not 

 appear to be a relationship between the mesial cirri branches and the 

 presence or absence of lateral cirri branches; thus, populations with 

 lateral branches have more cirri at a given SL interval than do those 

 without such branches. Presence or absence of lateral cirri branches 

 was not considered in the construction of table 31, where data for all 

 populations were combined (exclusive of the Western Australia 

 specimens) . 



There is considerable variation also in the relative length of the 

 main supraorbital cirrus. A selected sample of the populations indi- 



