TAENIOIDES 331 



beaches, in estuaries, the lower reaches of fresh-water rivers, 

 and in lakes, from the eastern coast of Hindustan through the 

 Indo-Australian Archipelago and north to China and southern 

 Japan. 



Key to the Philippine species of Taenioides. 



a 1 . Dorsal and anal entirely separate from caudal; color leaden to blackish; 



caudal black, elongate, with threadlike tip T. caeculus. 



a 2 . Dorsal and anal more or less connected with caudal; color pink to 



yellowish brown, never blackish. 

 6 l . A deep notch at junction of dorsal and anal with caudal; sides and top 



of head with many sensory ridges; caudal yellow T. cirratus. 



b". Dorsal and anal continuous with caudal; no sensory ridges on head; 

 caudal brown to blackish brown T. gracilis. 



166. TAENIOIDES CAECULUS (Bloch and Schneider) 



Caepola caecula BLOCK and SCHNEIDER, Syst. Ichth. (1801) 241, pi. 



54. 



Amblyopus caeculus GUNTHER, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus. 3 (1861) 133. 

 Gobioides caeculus DAY, Fishes of India (1878) 318, pi. 68, fig. 1. 

 Taenioides caeculus WEBER, Siboga Exped., Fische (1913) 486; REN- 



DAHL, Arkiv Zoologi 16 (1924) 31. 



Dorsal VI, 42; anal 38 in our specimens; dorsal VI, 40 to 

 44 ; anal 38 to 45. 



The body stout, the anterior half subcylindrical, the posterior 

 half thin, laterally compressed, the depth at origin of dorsal 

 14 times in length; the tail 1.85 times as long as head and 

 trunk together; the thick, blunt, subcylindrical head 6.6 times 

 in length; its depth equals that of body; its breadth slightly 

 exceeds its depth and is about 1.9 times in its own length; the 

 wide snout horizontal above, blunt, its tip very broadly arched, 

 4 times in head; the small eyes. invisible, covered by thick skin, 

 their position made out with difficulty, the interorbital space 

 about 1.8 times in snout, 6.4 times in head; the mouth large, 

 oblique, the posterior angle of maxillary reaching a perpendicular 

 just before eyes; the lips thick, fleshy, expanded into broad pads 

 at angles of mouth ; there are twelve large, erect, inward-curved 

 teeth in outer row above, ten below, about equal in size; some 

 distance behind outer row above is a narrow band of two rows 

 of small pointed teeth ; the inner band in lower jaw much larger, 

 of three complete, four partial rows, the teeth larger and coarser 

 than those in inner band above; the chin very prominent, con- 

 vex, with three pairs of short coarse barbels below symphysis, 

 its sides very coarsely rugose with thick folds of skin, each 



