BELOBRANCHUS 35 



by the corrosive action of the gastric juice, so that the fish can 

 rid itself of them eventually. 



Elsewhere this fish is known from Sumatra eastward to Bor- 

 neo, Celebes, Batjan, Amboina, Ceram, Euro, and Timor. 



Genus 4. BELOBRANCHUS Bleeker 

 Belobranchus BLEBKER, Nat. Tijd. Ned. Ind. 13 (1856) 300. 



The elongate body cylindrical anteriorly, with a pointed to 

 obtuse flattened and scaleless head; one or two of the upper 

 branchiostegals terminate anteriorly in a sharp spine directed 

 upward and forward ; there are 58 to 70 scales in a longitudinal 

 series; the lower jaw prominent, the mouth oblique; the teeth 

 in several rows in each jaw, the outer row a little larger than 

 the others; no canines present; the gill openings separated by 

 a broad isthmus. Dorsal VI, 1-7 or 8 ; anal I, 7 or 8. 



This remarkable genus is completely separated from related 

 eleotrids by the strong spine at the forward end of the first or 

 first and second branchiostegals, and by the completely naked 

 head. Only one species is definitely known, confined to the rivers 

 and estuaries of the East Indies. 



6. BELOBRANCHUS BELOBRANCHA (Cuyier and Valenciennes) 



PLATE 2, FIG. 2 



Eleotris belobrancha CUVIER and VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss. 12 



(1836) 183; GUNTHER, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus. 3 (1861) 127; A. B. 



MEYER, Ann., Soc. Espana Hist Nat. 14 (1885) 30. 

 Belobranchus taeniopterus BLEEKER, Nat. Tijd. Ned. Ind. 12 III 2 



(1856-1857) 301. 



Eleotris taenioptera GUNTHER, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus. 3 (1861) 127. 

 Belobranchus.quoyi BLEEKER, Nat. Tijd. Ned. Ind. 12 III 2 (1856-1857) 



300, nomen nudum; BLEEKER, Rev. Especes Eleotriformes, Versl. 



Akad. Amsterdam 11 (1877) 53. 



Dorsal VI, 1-7 or 8 ; anal I, 7 or 8 ; there are from 58 to 65 

 scales in a longitudinal series and 20 in a transverse series. 



The elongate body cylindrical anteriorly and compressed pos- 

 teriorly, its depth 6 to 7 times in the length ; the length of the 

 depressed head 3.3 to 3.4 times in the total length ; the eye 3.5 

 to 6.5 times in head, according to age; the interorbital space 

 varies from half an eye diameter to 1 times eye; the convex 

 snout twice as long as eye, or in the young but little longer; the 

 maxilla is shorter than the mandible and in young specimens 

 reaches to below the middle of eye or even farther; in older 

 specimens it is carried back to the posterior margin of eye or 



