IV. CENTRATHERINA 21 



Atherina alaotrensis Pellegrin is apparently congeneric with 

 Eleotris siKORiE Sauvagc, but it has a smaller mouth, fewer dorsal rays, 

 and is described as having the belly naked behind the ventrals, whereas 

 this region is figured as scaled in sikor.e. 



Subfamily MELANOT^NIIN^. 



PsEUDOMUGiLiD.^ Kner, Reise Novara, Fisclie, 275, 1865 ; Kner and Steindachner, 



Sitsb. Akad. Wiss. Wien, 44, 372, 1866. 

 Zanteclid^ Castelnau, Proc. Zool. Soc. Victoria, 2, 88, 1873. 

 Neoatherinid.e Castelnau, Researches Fishes, Australia, 31, 1875. 

 Melanot^niin^ Gill, Am. Nat., 708, 1894; Weber, Nova Guinea, 230, 1908. 

 Melanot^niid.e Ogilby, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, 21, 120, 1896. 



We adopt the name Melanot^niin.i: for this group, for the fol- 

 lowing reasons : Zantecla and Neoatherina are regarded as identical 

 with Melanot.enia. The name Pseudomugilid/E was not defined and 

 had not been used in the subpatronymic forrri, and Pseudomugil, further- 

 more, is not typical of the group as a whole. In fact Regan has urged 

 that Pseudomugil be removed from the Melanoivenia group, suggest- 

 ing that its relationships are rather with Telmatherina. As both of 

 these genera, however, have more in common with the typical Melano- 

 T^NiiN.E than with other groups of the Atherinid.e:, we place them in 

 that subfamily. 



We include in the Melanot.eniin.e nine genera from the warmer 

 parts of Australia, and from New Guinea and neighboring islands, with 

 one genus (Telmatherina) from Celebes. All, or at least most of 

 them, live exclusively in fresh waters. Most of the genera agree in 

 having a strong pungent spine at the front of both dorsals, and at the 

 front of the anal fin, which is usually elongate, and begins in advance of 

 the first dorsal. In Melanot.enia and Rhombosoma the anal some- 

 times begins definitely behind the front of the first dorsal, as also in 

 Atherinosoma, Pseudomugil, and Telmatherina, genera in which 

 the anal is rather short or moderately elongate. In these three genera, 

 as well as in Rhadinocentrus among the more typical Melanot^niin^, 

 all of the fin spines are flexible. In Centratherina all of the dorsal 

 spines are pungent In all of the other genera, one, two, or all of the 

 dorsal spines are filamentous, especially in the male. Sexual dimorphism 

 in the Atherinid^ appears to be restricted to the Melanot^niin.e. 



IV. CENTRATHERINA Regan, 1914. 



Centratherina Regan, Trans. Zool. Soc. London, 20, 283, 1914. 



Orthotype. — Rhombatractus crassispinosus Weber. 

 Range. — Fresh waters of northern New Guinea. 



