FISHES OF THE PHILIPPINE AND ADJACENT SEAS 17 



SCHUETTEA SCALARIPINNIS Stelndachner 



Schuettea scalaripinnis Steindachner, Sitz. Ber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, vol. 53 



1866, p. 449, pi. 6, fig. 1. Port Jackson, Australia.— Gunther, Zool! 



Record, 1866, Pisces, p. 141 (note).— McCulloch, Zool. Res. Endeavour, 



vol. 1, 1911, p. 81, pi. 15 (Sydney and Bordi); Rec. Australian Mus., vol! 



11, No. 7, 1917, p. 181 (note); Australian Zoologist, vol. 2, pt. 3, Feb 10 



1922, p. 89, pi. 26, fig. 226a (New South Wales). 

 Scorpis boo[p\s Peters, Monatsber. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1866, p. 519. New 



South Wales. 

 Bramichthys woodwardi Waite, Rec. Australian Mus., vol. 6, pt. 2, 1905, p. 



72, pi. 14. Mandurah, Western Australia. — Stead, Proc. Linn. Soc. New 



South Wales, vol. 31, 1906, p. 496. 



According to McCulloch, reaches 204 mm. 

 Family PLATACIDAE 



Body rhomboid, deep. Front profile of head steep. Mouth ter- 

 minal, horizontal. Maxillary short, without supplemental bone. 

 Premaxillaries slightly protractile. Jaws with bands of slender, 

 brushlike, pointed, movable teeth. No teeth on palate. Nostrils 

 double. Gill openings lateral, broadly separated from isthmus. 

 Branchiostegals 6 or 7. Air bladder simple. Scales small, ctenoid, 

 densely cover vertical fins. Lateral line present, concurrent with 

 back. One dorsal, spines nearly concealed, generally 3 to 9, short, 

 graduated, rays 28 to 40. Anal spines 3, rays 22 to 30. Caudal 

 peduncle short. Pectoral rays all branched. Ventrals thoracic, 

 well developed, inserted below pectoral base. 



A single genus in the Indo-Pacific. 



Genus PLATAX Cuvier 



Platax Cuvier, Regne Animal, vol. 2, 1817, p. 334. Type Chaetodon teira 

 Block, designated by Jordan and Evermann, Genera of Fishes pt 1 

 1917, p. 105. ' ^ • ' 



Body greatly compressed and elevated. Snout very short. Mouth 

 small. Teeth setiform, with outer row little enlarged, notched at 

 tips. Preopercle entire. Gili rakers very short. Pseudobranchiae 

 present. Air vessel simple. Pyloric coeca few. Vertebrae 24, of 

 which 14 caudal. Scales 60 to 80. Head scaly laterally. Soft dorsal 

 and anal anteriorly high, with thickened scaly bases. Caudal fin 

 truncate. Pectoral short. Ventral with spine and 5 rays, greatly 

 elongated in young. 



These fishes conspicuous by their large flat, orbicular bodies, were 

 divided into numerous species by the older writers. This eventuated 

 as they are greatly subject to variations, especially with age. From 

 the study of our materials we have been unable to maintain but two 

 species. 



