NO. 1334. JAPANESE CYPRINOID FISHES— JORDAN AND FO WLER. 839 



17. BIWIA ZEZERA (Ishikawa). 



ZEZERA. 



I'itendfMiohin zczent Ishikawa, Zool. Mag., VTI, 1895, p. 127, witli plate; Lake 

 Biwa at ()t8u, :Mael)ara and Matsu))ara; Prel. Cat., 1897, !>. KJ; naine iorali- 

 ties; also Zen^ho and Tsuyauia River. 



Head ^\ depth J:f; D. Ill, 7; A. Ill, 6; scale.s 3H in the lateral 

 line; 4 .scales between the orio-in of the dorsal and the lateral line, and 

 5 between the latter and the middle of th(i l)elly ; pharyngeal teeth not 

 examined, but probably 5—5; width of head 1^ in its length; snout 4 

 in head; eye Sf; interorbital space 3; pectoral a little less than head; 

 ventral li. 



Body elongate, compressed, and somewhat broad forward. Head 

 rather small, thick, and below, together with the inter-pectoral region, 

 broad and flattened; snout very bluntly rounded and produced; eye 

 moderate, high, anterior, and a little longer than snout; mouth small, 

 inferior, the broad suborbitals overlapping on each side; lips ver}' 

 thin; no bar])els; nostrils large, close together, on each side of the 

 snout, and the internasal space much less than the interorbital space; 

 top of head and interorlntal space flattened, the latter nuich Itroader 

 than the eye. Gill-openings moderate, inside and below with a deep 

 notch, gill-rakers very small and weak; pseudobranchige small. Intes- 

 tine short. Peritoneum silveiy. 



Scales large, cycloid, of more or less even size, and those on the 

 sides imbricated; no scales on breast; no pectoral flap; no ventral flap. 



Origin of dorsal al)out midway between tip of snout and l)ase of last 

 anal ray; the anterior rays the highest; the base of the fln about H 

 in the head; the length of the fin, when depressed, 3i in body with- 

 out caudal, and the margin of the fin convex; anal beginning well 

 behind tip of depressed dorsal, or about midway between the origin 

 of the ventral and the base of caudal, the anterior rays the longest, 

 the base of the fin short, and when depressed, the tip of the fin 

 reaches two-thirds the distance to base of caudal; caudal emarginate; 

 pectorals with the outer rudimentary^ ray enlarged and stiffened and 

 reaching three-fourths of the distance to ventrals; ventrals inserted 

 about opposite the middle of base of dorsal, or a little nearer the base 

 of caudal than tip of snout, and reaching three-fourths of the distance 

 to origin of anal. Caudal peduncle compressed, its least depth 2 in 

 head. Lateral line almost straight, only slightly decurved upon the 

 first three or four scales of its course. 



Color in alcohol, brown, darker above, the lower surface pale or 

 silvery; top of head and snout brownish; edge of each scale dark 

 brown, so that a well-defined reticulated color pattern is present; fins 

 all more or less grayish, the dorsal and caudal with some dark brown 

 mottlings or blotches; a series of round dark l)lotches along the sides. 



Length, S^V inches. 



