GREGORY: FISH SKULLS 



269 



The otolith (sagitta) of Polynemus lineatus, according to Frost {l92Sb, p. 331), re- 

 sembles that of Ophiocephalus of the labyrinthine series, except in certain details. 



Labyrinthici (Snakeheads, Climbing Perches, etc.) 



The ophiocephalids and anabantids were referred to the Percesoces by Boulenger but 

 have been classed as suborders (Ophiocephaloidea and Anabantoidea) of the Percomorphi 

 by Tate Regan. In Ophiocephalus the head of the living fish has much more than a vague 

 suggestion of a snake. The presence of an accessory respiratory organ may perhaps be 

 responsible for the great increase in longitudinal diameter from the back of the orbit to 

 the posterior rim of the enlarged subopercular (Fig. 145y^). The quadrate-articular joint 



scale-bone 



of fr dsph 



Ophiocephalus 



fpi 



\iot 



pijfcaletx'^^ 



Anabas 



Fig. 145. A. Ophiocephalus sp. Side view. B. Anabas scandfns. 



