EDIBLE FISHES OF QUEENSLAND.— OGILBY. 69 



Posterior half of preorbital with some deeply imbedded mostly non- 

 Imbricate scales; middle portion of cheek, postorbital region, upper edge of 

 opercle, and occiput scaly, the latter extending forward on the sides to above 

 the middle of the eye ; rest of the head and a gradually decreasing stripe along 

 the occipital and nuchal ridges naked in the adult ; scaly area much restricted in 

 the young ; preorbital and preopercle crossed by indistinct mucous canals ; 

 nuchal canal more conspicuous, extending among the scales to below the middle 

 of the spinous dorsal. Lateral line moderately curved to below the eighth 

 dorsal ray, the length of the curved section equal to one fifth less than that of 

 the straight, which is weakly armed posteriorly with 10 to 18 feeble scutes, which 

 increase in size and strength with age ; widest scute in the adult about one third 

 of the eye-diameter. 



Dorsal fin with viii to v, i 19 to 21 rays ; spinous dorsal small, originating 

 a little behind the pectoral-base; procumbent spine exposed in the young only; 

 spines feeble, the 2nd longest 2-55 to 345 in the length of the head, the three 

 last becoming isolated and finally absorbed with increasing age. Soft dorsal 

 originating a little nearer to the root of the caudal than to the tip of the snout, 

 the anterior rays produced as a low falciform lobe, its height 7-8 to 6 in the length 

 of the body, and extending when depressed to the 10th ray; last ray slightly 

 produced. Caudal fin widely forked, the lobes equal, 1 to 3.1 in the length of 

 the body. Anal fin with ii, i 16 or 17 rays, originating below the 6th or 7th 

 dorsal ray; free spines short, the second the longer, 2-6 to 1-9 in the eye-diameter 

 .and 4 to 5-2 in the 1st ray, which is 2.33 to 2 in the length of the head, and 

 extends when depressed to the 9th ray. Pectoral with 21 or 22 rays, its length 

 3-85 to 2-6 in that of the body, and from one seventh less to one fifth more than 

 the length of the head, the 4th and 5th rays longest, extending in the young to 

 above the origin, in the adult to above the 7th or 8th ray, of the anal. Ventral 

 moderate, its length 2 to 2-8 in that of the pectoral and 8 to 7-25 in that of the 

 body, the 1st ray a little the longest extending to a little beyond the vent. 



Gill-rakers 19 to 21 on the lower branch of the anterior arch, the longest 

 from one fifth more than to as long as the fringes and 5-2 to 7-4 in the length 

 of the head. Vent situated from one sixth nearer to the anal than to the origin 

 of the ventral in the young to one eighth nearer to the origin of the ventral 

 than to the anal in the adult. 



Coloration: — {Young) : Golden, with ten or twelve alternately wide and 

 narrow black cross-bands, which do not quite reach to the ventral edge of the 

 trunk, but are complete on the tail ; the first band runs obliquely forwards from 

 the occipital ridge through the eye to close behind the maxillary; the second 

 less obliquely backwards from the nuchal ridge over the hinder border of the 

 opercle to the base of the pectoral, below which it curves slightly forwards on 

 the breast ; the third, fourth, and fifth 14 are below the spinous dorsal and are 



When but ten bands are present there are two only below the spinous dorsal. 



