464 BULLETIN 1S8, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



This is the most beautiful of the local species. It makes an attrac- 

 tive aquarium fish. 



The variation in the number of dorsal and anal rays is considerable, 

 as noted by Weber and de Beaufort. In specimens from the Meyuam 

 a tributary of the Salwin, at Mesarieng, Northern Thailand, the fin 

 formulae in a limited number of examples examined were dorsal VII, 

 8, VIII, 9, and IV, 8, and anal XI, 35 and XII, 34, while in specimens 

 from the Mekang, a tributary of the Meping, Northern Thailand, the 

 dorsal rays were uniformly VIII, T and the anal rays XI, 34 and 

 XII, 32. 



.-:SS:^^%^^. 





Figure 98.--TrichogasUr trichopterus (Pallas). Drawn by Nai Chote Suvatti; courtesy 

 of the Thailand Government . 



Over most of Thailand the vernacular name is pla kadi^ often ex- 

 panded to pla kadi mor {nwr, a cooking pot) to distinguish from other 

 species. Along the Mekang, tributary of the Meping at the base of 

 Doi Angka in Northern Thailand, the fish is called pla salark, and the 

 same name is used on the Meyuam at Mesarieng. Another local north- 

 ern name is pla sdlaring. 



TRICHOGASTER PECTORALIS (Regan) 



Tiichopodus pecioralis Regan, 1910, p. 784, pi. 79, fig. 1 (Siam).— Fowler, 1934a, 

 p. 149 (Bangkok) ; 1934b, p. 350 (Bangkok) ; 1937, p. 222 (Bangkok, Pitsanu- 

 lok, Mepoon, Kemarat).— Indeambaeya, 1939, p. 127, pi. 1 (Bung Borapet). 



Trichogaster pecioralis Smith, 1933b, p. 259 (Siam, Malaya). 



This is the largest and most important of the local trichogastrids. 

 The species, singularly enough, was without a name until 1910 when 

 Regan, having before him specimens from Thailand and Singapore, 

 described it as Trichopodus pecioralis^ in allusion to the large pectoral 

 fin which in adults is longer than the head. 



