﻿3i8 



end of tail. Pectorals wanting. Head short or moderate; snout 

 pointed, projecting beyond mouth, the cleft of which reaches 

 behind or far behind eye. Lips without filaments. Eyes small. 



■9-' 

 Fig. 154. 



^ 



Fig. 153. Sphagebrancliiis folyophthaliims (Blkr.) nat. size. 



Small figure: anterior part of head magnified: a anterior nostril, 



/ labial papilla outside of slit of posterior nostril. 



situated before or above the middle of the cleft of the mouth. 



Posterior nostrils a slit in the border of the upper lip, looking 

 Q, downward; anterior nostrils 



in a tube at the border of 

 the upper lip or at the ventral 

 surface of the prominent part 

 of the snout or they are slits 

 in a low papilla on the last- 

 named place. Teeth pointed, 

 uniserial, those of the vomer 

 may be biserial, equal in size 

 or the vomerine ones are 

 stouter. No scales, lateral line 



present. Gillopenings small, close together, ventral, longitudinal, 



oblique or vertical; the gillmembrane may form anteriorly a 



duplicature (see figure 154). 



Distribution: Temperate and tropical seas. They burrow 



in sand. Some species entering fresh water. 



Ventral view of gillopenings 

 (g) with the anterior and superior dupli- 

 cature d of the gillmembranes of a. Spliagc- 

 i>ranc/tus polyophthaliiius (Blkr.), /'. Sphage- 

 hranchus orient a lis (Mc Clell.). 



Key to the indo-australian 

 Sphagebranchus. 



I. Gillopenings ventral, oblique or longitudinal 

 slits, anteriorly (superiorly) provided with a dupli- 

 cature of the gillmembrane (see figure 154). 



p e c 1 e s 



of 



