ABRAMIS ELONGATUS. 



217 



Abramis elongatus (AGASSIZ). 



The rays of the fins and arrangement of the scales are the same in this 

 species as in the Smut-Nose, and Giinther remarks that the skeletons are iden- 

 tical in both fishes, there being twenty-three thoracic vertebrae, and the same 

 number in the caudal region ; so thai Abramis elongatus has been regarded as a 

 variety of A. vimba, which, instead of descending annually to the sea, remains 

 stationary in rivers. It is so like that species as to be easily confounded, 

 but the nose is blunter and less projecting, and the head thicker (Fig- 120). 

 The greatest height is one-fifth of the total length, so that it is rather more 



Fig. 120.- ABRAMIS ELONGATUS (AGASSIZ). 



elongated, though in old age the body 'becomes somewhat higher, and more 

 approaches the proportions of Alramis rimba. The eye is large, about a fourth 

 the length of the head. It is at first separated from the snout by its own 

 diameter, but with age the distance augments a little ; and it is one and a half 

 times its diameter from the other eye. The angle of the mouth reaches back 

 below the nares. The dorsal fin commences rather farther back than the ven- 

 trals. Its height is twice the length of its base. The anal fin begins at the 

 end of the dorsal, and, as in all the species, is longer than high. The ventral 

 fins do not quite reach the vent, and are themselves rarely reached by the 

 longest ray of the pectoral fin. The resemblance to Abramis vimba, which is 

 seen in the details of the pharyngeal teeth, scales, and mucus-canals, extends 

 to the colour ; though broad, bright longitudinal lines, formed of small spots, 

 often extend along the side of the trunk to the caudal fin. The anal and 

 pectoral fins are white, and the other fins are spotted with black dots. Von 



