130 GOBIES OF THE PHILIPPINES 



Viewed from above the body is robust, wedge-shaped, with 

 compressed sides, tapering to a broad but thin caudal peduncle ; 

 the dorsal and ventral profiles but little arched, the -depth 3.9 

 to 4.4 in length; the large head goes 3.38 to 3.6 in length, with 

 a convex, sharply descending profile and projecting jaw; the 

 cheeks very plump so that the width of head is equal to or 

 greater than its depth; the snout 3.8 to 4.2 times in head, and 

 but little longer than eyes; these are placed very high up and 

 close together, their gaze directed upward more than laterally, 

 their length 0.75 to that of snout, and 4.2 to 4.6 times in 

 head; the width of the naked interorbital half or less than half 

 an eye diameter; the nape scaled to eyes and into interorbital 

 space ; the oblique mouth moderate, the lips fringed within, the 

 posterior angle of maxillary reaching a point below front margin 

 of eye or, more rarely, below middle of eye; the upper jaw has 

 a long outer row of enlarged, conical, fixed teeth, erect or pro- 

 jecting, followed by a band of six or eight rows of very fine 

 teeth ; the lower , jaw has a short outer row of enlarged teeth, 

 six or eight on each side, with a pair of canines at the symphysis 

 and a pair of posterior lateral canines; behind this row is a 

 band of about five rows of very fine teeth, followed by a long 

 inner row of enlarged stout conical teeth, the largest behind 

 symphysis; the large, rounded, naked preopercle marked by 

 several longitudinal and many crosslines of minute warts; a 

 few similar lines on opercle; a large pore above and midway 

 between nostrils; two large pores on interorbital space; two 

 pores behind eye, three more on supraopercular groove, and 

 three on posterior border of preopercle; the depth of caudal 

 peduncle contained about twice in head; the dorsal spines mod- 

 erately flexible, with short threadlike tips, the third one long- 

 est, its height 0.5 or f that of body; the base of anal much 

 shorter than that of second dorsal, both fins similar in outline, 

 their posterior rays elongate, those of anal a little the longer, 

 and usually reaching base of caudal when depressed, rarely 

 falling short of it; the caudal varies from rounded to pointed 

 but not lanceolate, its length usually a little greater than head ; 

 the broad rounded pectorals extend slightly beyond the broad 

 ventrals, sometimes as far as above anal opening; the anal pa- 

 pilla slender and pointed. 



In life this is a goby of great beauty; the body and fins are 

 dusky gray, tinged with roseate, blue, and lavender; there is 

 a large, dark, emerald green shoulder spot, one nearly as large 

 before it on the side of the nape, and another behind it, and 



