164 GOBIES OF THE PHILIPPINES 



Dumaguete River, Oriental Ne- Agusan River, Mindanao, 6. 



gros, 2. Lake Buluan, Cotabato Prov- 



Lasay, Siquijor, 1. ince, Mindanao, 6. 



Daguitan River, Dulag, Leyte, Davao, Mindanao, 6. 



1. Hongkong, 2. 



Malabang spring, Malabang, Indian Museum, Ganges River, 



Lanao Province, Mindanao, 1. and Bengal, India, 3. 



Previous Philippine records are as follows: Giinther, "Philip- 

 pine Islands;" Peters, Lebmanan River, Luzon, and Lake Bito, 

 Leyte; Meyer, Laguna de Bay and Cebu; Boulenger, Palawan; 

 Evermann and Scale, San Fabian, Pangasinan Province, and 

 Bacon and Bulan, Sorsogon Province; Smith and Seale, Rio 

 Grande de Mindanao, Cotabato Province; Jordan and Richard- 

 son, Aparri, Mindoro, and Iloilo. 



This goby is a valuable food fish in many localities, its size 

 and abundance making it an important market fish. It is much 

 the largest Philippine representative of the true gobies, but is 

 not nearly so bulky as some of the large eleotrids. It is also one 

 of the most important of the young fishes caught in northern 

 Luzon under the name of ipon. 



It occurs in both fresh and salt water, but appears to reach 

 its maximum size in fresh-water lakes; my largest specimens 

 were caught in Lake Buluan. This goby is a bold and vigorous 

 biter and is angled for in nearly every lowland stream and 

 lake throughout the Islands. 



Specimens that were kept in captivity a long time laid eggs 

 which they fastened to the concrete walls of the tank. In 

 nature the eggs are attached to the underside of rocks, near or 

 in the mouths of rivers where they are influenced by the tides. 



This valuable species occurs from the east coast of Africa 

 eastward at least as far as Celebes and northward to Swatow, 

 China. 



72a. GLOSSOGOBIUS GIURUS var. OBSCURIPINNIS (Peters) 



Gobius obscuripinnis PETERS, Monatsber. Akad. Wiss. Berlin (1868) 

 263. 



Oro-on in Bicol. 



Dorsal VI, 1-8 or 9; anal I, 7; there are 29 or 30 (29-33, 

 Peters) scales in a longitudinal series and 10 or 11 in a trans- 

 verse series; 20 or more scales in front of the first dorsal. 



The trunk laterally compressed, the posterior part strongly 

 so, with very moderately curved dorsal and ventral profiles ; the 

 depth 4.5 to 5 times in length; the long broad head contained 

 about 3 times in length; the snout short, rounded, its length 

 3.1 to 3.4 times in head; the eyes partly superior and partly 



