REVIEW OF THE QUEENSLAND POMACANTEIN^.—OGILBY. 109* 



Dorsal fin originating above the pectoral axil, with xiv 21 rays, the soft 

 portion 14 in the spinous; 1st spine rather short, about one third of the last, 

 which is 1-55 in the longest ray and 6-2 in the body-length ; procumbent spine 

 if present concealed ; soft dorsal with acutely pointed outline, the 6th ray longest, 

 the hinder border midulous. Caudal tin rounded, the middle rays louger than 

 the outer, 5-55 in the length of the body. Anal fin with iii 20 rays, originating 

 below the K)th dorsal spine, the first spine 245 in the last, which is 1-35 in the 

 middle and longest rays and 7-35 in the body-length; soft portion with evenly 

 rounded outline, a little shorter than the soft dorsal. Pectoral with 19 rays, its 

 length 3-8 in that of the body, the 4th ray longest, extending to below the 6th' 

 dorsal spine. Ventral a little longer than the pectoral, the spine 1-55 in the 

 outer ray, which is not produced, is 3-7 in the body-length, and reaches to the 

 vent. 



Body purplish brown, with numerous narrow orange hands, which are 

 continued on the soft dorsal and in a less degree on the anal tins, those on the 

 upper half of the body with a general inclination upwards, on the lower half 

 horizontal or with a trivial declination, but always curved well upwards 

 posteriorly; scapular, pectoral and thoracic regions, and branchiostegal 

 membranes uniform blackish. Head greenish yellow; a broad black frontal band, 

 which decreases in width from above, passes downwards through the eye and 

 along the preopercular border to the spine, which is dull blue. Dorsal fin with 

 a broad fulvous marginal band throughout: caudal yellow: anal and pectorals 

 purplish, the latter widely bordered with dull yellow; ventrals greenish yellow. 



Etymology: — Latin, iniperator, emperor; so named because the older 

 Dutch writers on the Moluccas called it " empt r< ur <hi Japon." 



Fry. No. of Queensland Museum specimen described: — I. 14/1711. 



Measurements of the specimen: — See p. 11 <i. 



Range: — From the Red Sea and the Bast Coast of Africa. Madagascar 

 and Mauritius, eastward through the seas of India and the Malay Archipelago 

 to the Society and Paumotu Groups and northward to China and Guam. 



Misled by the name given to this fine species by the earlier Dutch historians 

 of the natural history of the Spice Islands, Bloch and those immediately follow- 

 ing him gave the habitat as Japan, where, however, it has not as yet been found. 

 This error was not corrected until 1831, when Valenciennes announced its true 

 distribution as the "warm parts of the Indian Seas'' from the Moluccas to 

 Mauritius. To this Klundinger added the Red Sea and Bleeker China and 

 Madagascar, while Gunther extended its range in an easterly direction to the 

 far-off Society and Paumotu Groups and Seale in a northerly to the Mariannes. 

 Coming nearer home Bleeker in 1878 recorded it from New Guinea, while our 

 specimen, so far the only Australian representative, comes from Raine Island, 

 an outlier of the Barrier Reef about the latitude of Somerset, N.Q. 



Dimensions: — Grows to 380 millim. 



