474 BULLETIN 188, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The fisli reaches a length of nearly a meter and a weight of more 

 than 20 kilograms in Thailand. It is thus the largest of the ophi- 

 cephalids, and combines with its large size a predatory disposition, 

 which makes it one of the most destructive of the local fresh-water 

 fishes. It consumes fishes of all kinds and sizes and also kills far in 

 excess of its actual needs. 



There are no special observations on its spawning habits. That it is 

 very savage in guarding its nest and eggs, and will then attack human 

 beings, is well known, however. 



As a game fish this species has quite a reputation among anglers in 

 Thailand. It fights hard, sometimes jumps like a salmon after being 

 hooked, and is difficult to land. 



The food quality is high but among the Thai is rated below 0. 

 striatus. The fish are taken to market and kept alive in tubs of water. 

 Wlien a fish is sold, it is stunned by a blow on the head with a wooden 

 club, decapitated with a cleaver just behind the pectoral fins, and the 

 viscera are removed with a narrow median strip of skin and muscle 

 extending from head to vent. 



Cuvier and Valenciennes (1831, vol. 7) also described this fish 

 from Thailand under the name Ophicephalus serpentinus^ basing it 

 on a drawing by Dr. Finlayson. The type, 18 inches long, from the 

 collection of the East India Company, is in the British Museum. 



Over most of Thailand this fish is called 'pla cliado. In the Bangkok 

 region the usual designation is pla inelang pu. Along the upper 

 reaches of the Menam Chao Phya young fish bear the name pla ai pdk. 



Order Percomorphi 



Family PHALLOSTETHIDAE 



The remarkable small fishes of fresh and brackish waters of the 

 Philippines, Malaya, and Thailand constituting the family Phallo- 

 stethidae have been known less than 30 years and have been recognized 

 as forming a distinct family less than half that time. Material col- 

 lected in Thailand first raised doubt as to the allocation of this family 

 with the Cyprinodontes by displaying a second dorsal fin, which was 

 overlooked by Regan in his descriptions of the first two genera, Phal- 

 lostethus and Neostethus^ from Malaya. Recent activities of Herre, 

 Myers, and Aurich have shown that the family is rather extensive and 

 that eight genera are now known. Two of these are represented in 

 Thailand, one of them having a single species peculiar to the country 

 and apparently of very limited distribution in fresh water, the other 

 with species in the Philippines and Malaya and a local species of 

 restricted habitat in brackish water. 



