100 



The Roman {Chrysophrys cristiceps C. & V.). 



The Dasje may be described as a nibbler, the Red-stumpnose 

 as a blower, and the Steenbras as a grubber. Like these fish, 

 the Roman is also provided with rounded molars behind for 

 crushing its food, but its method of procuring it is entirely 

 different. It has a very capacious mouth, well provided with 

 sharp canine teeth in front, and is of an aggressive disposition. 

 Most of the other fish keep out of its way, and frequently, while . 

 they are nibbling or tearing at a rather large piece of food, the 

 Roman will swoop down and carry off the whole in its mouth. 

 It then makes off with haste, followed by the other fish and, 

 although it cannot swallow the large mass of food, will keep it 

 in its mouth till it gets into a quiet corner. It then ejects it 

 and tears it up. The Roman is the only fish which has been 

 observed in the tanks to tackle successfully the hard test of the 

 " Red-bait," and only when some injury, often a small one, 

 has afforded a slight beginning ; it diligently tears at it until the 

 opening is large enough to extract the reddish and soft body 

 of the Ascidian. Most fish, except Dog-fish and a few others, 

 eagerly eat this red-bait when the test is broken. 



The Roman is a conspicuously coloured fish with large areas 

 of the body of a bright red, and with a blue thin streak over the 

 forehead between the eyes. No very marked changes were 

 noticed in their tints, and the various regions of the body where 

 they occur are sharply defined and constant. On one occasion 

 some Malay fishermen brought to the aquarium a fish which, 

 while similar to the Roman in every other respect, had the 

 normally red areas of a bright blue colour. The streak between 

 the eyes was as usual. The fish was kept alive in the tanks 

 for about a year and seemed to behave quite normally, except 

 that it did not associate with the other Romans quite as much 

 as usual. The Romans are not, however, very gregarious 

 and there is hardly sufticient evidence to warrant a definite 

 statement on this point which is of interest as bearing on a 

 possible factor in the swamping of such discontinuous \'aria- 

 tions. No other Roman of a blue or bluish colour has come 

 under obser\'ation, and the fishermen said that they had never 

 seen one of this colour before. 



The name " Roman " is in all probability an English corrup- 

 tion of the Dutch " Rooi-man " in reference to its red colour. 

 The redundancy " Red Roman " is often heard. 



The WhitE'Stumpnose {Chrysophrys globiceps C. & V.). 



In contrast to its near relative, the Red-stumpnose, this fish 

 is of a sober colour, dark gray or black occurring in vertical 



