234 GOBIES OF THE PHILIPPINES 



Originally described from western Australia, this very beau- 

 tiful little goby has since been collected throughout the Malay 

 Archipelago to the Andaman Islands, but does not seem to be 

 abundant anywhere. 



112. AMBLYGOBIUS INSIGNIS Scale 



PLATE 18, FIG. 3 



Amblygobius insignis SEALE, Philip. Journ. Sci. D 5 (1910) 116, pi. 

 2, fig. 1. 



Dorsal VI, 1-12; anal I, 12; there are 70 scales in a longitu- 

 dinal series and about 30 in a transverse series. 



The body subcylindrical in front, strongly laterally compressed 

 behind, narrowed dorsally, the dorsal and ventral profiles nearly 

 parallel, the depth about 5 times, the head 3.7 times in length; 

 the eyes as long as the short, blunt, convex snout, which is con- 

 tained 4 times in head ; the interorbital space very narrow, 4 

 to 6 times in eye; the mouth small, oblique, the posterior angle 

 of maxillary beneath front margin or forward third of eye; 

 the teeth of upper jaw in four rows, those of the outer one 

 much larger than the others, which are minute; in lower jaw 

 are three rows, the teeth of outer row much the largest, 

 five on each side, the last one a stout, curved canine; the pos- 

 terior ctenoid scales largest, becoming smaller anteriorly and 

 changing to cycloid near pectorals; the head and region for- 

 ward of dorsal entirely naked, a few small scales extending 

 above pectoral as far forward as posterior margin of opercle; 

 on nape is a low skinny crest extending forward from dorsal 

 nearly to eyes; the second dorsal spine longest, 0.75 or a little 

 more than 0.75 as long as head and equal to or slightly exceeding 

 depth; the second dorsal highest posteriorly, extending upon 

 caudal when depressed, the longest rays less than the greatest 

 depth of body; the anal similar but lower, the posterior rays 

 reaching base of caudal when depressed; the depth of caudal 

 peduncle 2.5 times in head; the rounded caudal about as long 

 as head; the broad pectorals approximately equal to caudal in 

 length; the ventrals short, about f as long as head, not nearly 

 reaching the short, broad, anal papilla. 



The color in alcohol brown or yellowish brown, with about 

 ten or eleven oblique darker crossbands, running downward 

 and backward at an angle of about 70; posteriorly they are 

 broader and very distinct, but below the spinous dorsal they are 

 indistinct and somewhat broken; two short, dark brown cross- 



