FISHES.-MCCULLOCH. 8l 



ScHUETTEA SCALARIPINNIS, Steitidachuer. 

 (Plate XV.) 



Schiiettea scaJaripiuuis, Steindachner, Sitzb. Ak. Wiss. 



Wien, liii., i., 1866, p. 449, pi. vi., fig. i ; id... 



McCulloch, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.Wales, xxxvi., 1911, 



p. 82. 

 Braniichthys it<oodii'anli, Stead, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, 



xxxi., 1906, p. 496; id., Stead, Add. Fish. Faun. N.S. 



Wales (Dept. Fish. N.S.W.), 1907, p. 23 (nee B. wood- 



ivardi, Waite). 



D. V. 28-30; A. iii. 28-33; P. 16; V. i. 5 ; C. 17; 1. lat. 



53-56;!. tr. 8+18. 



Height of the body about 2^, length of the head, 3^-3^ in 

 the length to the hypural. Eye very large, about 2J, caudal 

 peduncle 2f to 3 in the head. Interorbital width §, snout 

 rather more than ^ of the eye. 



Body broadly ovate, compressed, the dorsal and ventral 

 profiles almost evenly rounded. Back between the eyes and 

 the dorsal fin with a well-developed keel in young specimens, 

 which is less marked in adults. Interorbital space more or 

 less convex, snout flattened above, a slight concavity usually 

 present over the nostrils. Maxillary reaching to below the 

 anterior third of the eye ; the distal end expanded, its breadth 

 only a little less than the length of the snout, and either 

 truncate or with the angles rounded. Preorbital narrow, 

 smooth. Angle of the preoperculum broadly rounded, the 

 inferior border minutely serrated in the young, almost or 

 quite smooth in adults, the hinder border very thin. Oper- 

 culum with two weak, flat spines separated by a broad, deeply 

 concave interspace ; above the superior one the bony margin 

 forms three small points which are not always distinct. With 

 the exception of the tip of the snout and the lips, the whole 

 head is covered with small scales which extend backwards to 

 the dorsal fin and form a marked line on the sides of the nape 

 where they meet those of the body. Teeth minute, movable., 

 in bands on both jaws but absent near the symphyses of each ; 

 thev form a triangular patch on the vomer and a band on each 

 palatine. Gill-rakers long, compressed, the longest about 

 half as long as the eye, and roughened on their inner surfaces ; 

 there are about twenty-six on the lower limb of the first arch. 

 A large pore is present on either side of the symphyses of 

 the lower jaw. 



Scales of moderate size, very thin, cycloid and finely 

 striated. They are arranged in oblique rows on the sides 

 and are largest aboA'e the pectoral fin ; they cover the greater 



