48 BULLETIN 188, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Genus HARENGULA Cuvier and Valenciennes 



Harengula Cxjviebi and Valenciennes, Histoire naturelle des poissons, vol. 20, 

 p. 201, 1847. (Type, Harengula latulus Cuvier and Valenciennes= C^wpea 

 macropthalma Ranzani.) 



HARENGULA VITTATA (Cuvier and Valenciennes) 



Clupeonia vittata Cuvier and Vauhstciennes, 1847, vol. 10, p. 352 (Vanikoro). 

 Clupea (Alausa) melamcra von Martens, 1876, p. 405 (Bangkok). 

 Clupea (Harengula) melanura Webee and de Beaufobt, 1913, vol. 2, p. 72 (Siam). 

 (Fide Regan.) 



This widely dispersed species of the Indian and western Pacific 

 Oceans is almost exclusively marine, but in Thailand it has at times a 

 fresh-water habitat. In addition to the record for Bangkok by von 

 Martens, which may be based on market material from the Gulf of 

 Siam, but is not so indicated as are citations for other species, the fish 

 is known from the Tapi River near Bandon in Peninsular Siam, where 

 specimens about 9 cm. long were taken in September 1923. A length 

 of 14 cm. is given by Bleeker for the East Indies. 



The species is strikingly marked by having the outer third of each 

 caudal lobe black, thus resembling Sardinella Tnelanura (Cuvier) . 



Subfamily Pristigasterinae 



In this subfamily there are two genera of which representatives in 

 Thailand have the tendency, if not the regular habit, of entering fresh 

 waters from the sea or estuaries. They may be distinguished as fol- 

 lows : 



lo. Dorsal and ventral fins present; anal rays 33 to 54 Ilisha 



16. Dorsal fin present, ventral fins absent ; anal rays 56 to 66 Opisthopterus 



Genus ILISHA (Gray) Richardson 



Ilislia (Gray) Richardson, Report on the ichthyology of China and Japan, p. 306, 

 1846. (Type, Ilisha ahnormis (Gray) Richardson.) 



The name Ilisha, credited to Gray by Richardson in 1846 on the 

 basis of a drawing of Ilhha ahnorTnis, appears to take precedence over 

 Pelloiia of Cuvier and Valenciennes (1847). There are many species 

 now known from Thai waters, but most of them have not been ascer- 

 tained to enter fresh water at any time, although there is a tendency 

 on the part of the genus as a whole to come within the influence of 

 brackish water in estuaries and at the mouths of rivers. One Burmese 

 species ascends the Irrawaddy as far as Mandalay. 



In addition to the species differentiated in the key below, definitely 

 credited with a temporary fresh- water habitat, Fowler (1934a, 1935a) 

 lists several species (/. indica Bleeker and /. Irachysoma Bleeker) 

 as collected at Bangkok ; these citations, however, cannot be accepted 



