MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM, Vol. VII, Part I. 



EDIBLE FISHES OF QUEENSLAND. 



By J. Douglas Ogilby (Ichthyologist). 



Part XV.— SERRANID.^ (No. 1). 

 (Plates I to III.) 



Fercalaies Ramsay & Ogilby, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, xii, 1887, p. 182; Ogilby, Edib. 

 Fish N, S. Wales, 1893, p. 2; Boulenger, Catal. Pereif. Fish., 1895, p. 132. Type— 

 Latcs colonorura Giinther 1863. 



Body subovate and compressed. Scales moderate, adherent, concentrically 

 striated, more or less strongly ciliated, those of the throat and breast small. 

 Lateral line complete, continued on the base of the caudal fin, the tube simple 

 and straight, not extending to the border of the scale. Head large and partly 

 naked, the upper profile variable. Mouth terminal and protractile, with wide 

 oblique cleft, the lower jaw more or less projecting, the maxillary large and 

 dilated, exposed, with well developed supramaxillary. Teeth in villiform bands, 

 on the jaws, vomer, and palatines; tongue toothless. Nostrils of moderate size, 

 approximate, opening in front of the middle of the eye, and much nearer to it 

 than to the edge of the preorbital, the anterior valvular. Preorbital, suborbital, 

 and vertical border of preopercle serrated ; angle and lower border of preopercle 

 armed with strong teeth, which on the latter may be antrorse ; opercle with two 

 divergent spines, the lower much the longer; postclavicle and posttemporal 

 usually serrated. Two dorsal fins, connected at the base, the first with viii, rarely 

 ix, strong pungent spines, the interspinous membrane deeply cleft ; second dorsal 

 shorter than the first, with i 8 to 11 rays, the base concealed by a low scaly sheath. 

 Caudal emarginate, with 17 principal rays. Anal short, with iii 7 to 9 rays, 

 extending well beyond and similar to the second dorsal. Pectoral obtuseh'' 

 pointed, with 12 to 16 rays, the upper middle ones the longest. Ventral longer 

 than the pectoral with i 5 rays, inserted a little behind the pectoral-base. Grill- 

 openings wide; gill-membranes separate, free from the isthmus; six branchios- 

 tegals; pseudobranchife present; gills four, a slit behind the fourth; gill-rakers 

 stout and well developed, in moderate number; pharyngeal bones large, densely 

 covered with small teeth. Air-bladder present, large. Stomach caecal, intestinal 

 canal convoluted, pyloric appendages in moderate number. Posterior processes 

 of the premaxillaries not extending to the frontals; parietal and supraoceipital 

 bones not extending to between the postfrontal processes; supraoceipital crest 

 strong, not produced on the frontals. Vertebrae 11 -[- 14 = 25. 



Monotypic. The single species inhabiting the fresh waters and estuaries of 

 Southern and Eastern Australia, from the Gulf of Saint Vincent, S.A., to the 

 Pine River, S.Q. 



