FISHES OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS AND ADJACENT SEAS 543 



Family NOTOPTERIDAE 



Body greatly compressed, caudal region very long, tapering. 

 Head compressed. Upper jaw edge formed by premaxillaries and 

 maxillaries, latter more developed. Parietals separate supraoccipital 

 from frontal bones. Large hole on each side of skull between squa- 

 mosal, exoccipital, and epiotic. No subopercle. Interopercle small, 

 hidden under preopercle. No barbels. No pseudobranchiae or 

 pharyngeal teeth. Air bladder divided in interior, communicates 

 with ear. Stomach without blind sac. Pyloric coeca 2. No ovi- 

 ducts. Ribs sessile, accessory bones (adpleurals) attached to ends 

 of front ribs or even fused, embraced by double ventral serratures. 

 Precaudal vertebrae with transverse processes before ribs. Head 

 and body densely scaled. Dorsal short, when present on caudal part 

 of vertebral column. Anal very long. Pectoral depressed against 

 sides. 



Two genera, living in fresh or brackish water, chiefly in swamps 

 or lagoons of southeast Asia and tropical Africa. The fishes of this 

 family may be readily known by the extraordinarily long based anal, 

 usually confluent with the small caudal fin. 



Genus NOTOPTERUS Lacepede 



Notopterus Lackp£:de, Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. 2, p. 189, 1800. (Type, Notopterus 

 kapirat Ijaceped.e= Gynmotus notopterus Pallas, virtually tautotypic. ) 



Chitala Fowler, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 85, p. 244, 1934. (Type, 

 Mystus chitala Buchanau-Hamilton, orthotypic. ) 



Body elongated, strongly compressed. Snout obtuse, convex. 

 Mouth large or moderate, cleft lateral. Small teeth on premaxil- 

 laries, maxillaries, vomer, palatines, pterygoids, and tongue. Front 

 nostril with tentacle, hind one near eye. Bones of head cavernous, 

 lower preopercle edge serrated. Gill membranes partly united. 

 Branchiostegals 6 to 9. 



ANALYSIS OF SPECIES 



a\ Chitala. Opercular scales not larger than those on body ; 12 to 22 trans- 

 verse rows of scales on preopercle ; 37 to 45 pairs of abdominal scutes. 

 b\ Maxillary reaches far behind eye ; 20 to 22 transverse rows of scales on 



preopercle chitala 



b^ Maxillary reaches hind border of eye or little beyond ; 12 to 16 transverse 



rows of scales on preopercle borneensis 



a". Notopterus. Opercular scales much larger than those on body ; 8 to 10 

 transverse rows of scales on preopercle ; 28 to 33 pairs of abdominal scutes ; 

 maxillary reaches hind pupil or eye edge notopterus 



Subgenus Chitala Fowler 



Opercular scales not larger than those on body. Preopercle with 

 10 to 22 transverse rows of scales. Abdominal scutes 37 to 45. 



