170 The Philippine Journal of Science 1923 



(1908) 238; Weber and Beaufort, Fishes Indo-Austr. Arch. 3 



PiltlTololTis zophistius Jordan and Snyder, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 

 23 (1901) 868, fig. 15. 



PisoodonopJm mae^re^oW Jordan and Richardson, Bull. U. S. Bur. 

 Fisheries 27 (1907) (1908) 238, fig. 2. 



Depth 22 to 35.78 in total length; head 8 to 10 in total 

 length and 2 to more than 3 in trunk; head and trunk together 

 from 0.63 to 0.7 of tail and 1.4 to 1.6 in tail, which is 1.6 

 to 1.7 in total length; eye 8 to 12 in head, and 1.6 to 2 in 

 snout; gape 2.7 to more than 3.5 in head; pectoral contained 

 about 3 to 4 in head ; origin of dorsal varies from a point over gill 

 opening to 0.5 the length of pectoral from origin of latter 

 Teeth granular or rounded, mostly uniform in size, arranged 

 in triserial bands on jaws and a biserial band on vomer; soft 

 palate and lips overlapping bands so that they appear narrower 

 than they really are; teeth on intermaxillary plate numerous 

 more or less separated from the other teeth by a slight 

 interspace; Richardson says "nasal disk circular, armed with 

 about 15 crowded . . . teeth," but I find from eight to ten, 

 usually arranged in pairs, the second and third pairs largest; 

 they are so covered over by the nasal tubes and lips as to be 

 difficult to observe. A small papilla protrudes from a notch in 

 . the upper lip about halfway between the anterior nostril and 

 the eye, and a similar but much smaller one is below the eye 

 immediately behind the posterior nostril; there are rows oi 

 large mucus pores along the jaws and behind the eye, as shown 

 in the figures cited above. Richardson states there are three 

 on each side of the snout above and before the eye but he 

 missed another pair which lies between the eyes, directly op- 

 posite the pupils. One of my specimens has pores behind the 

 angle of the jaw exactly as in Jordan and Snyder s figure ol 

 P. zophistius; some have one or two, but most of the specimens 

 lack them altogether. . 



Color in life dusky brownish above, paler yellowish below, 

 in alcohol varying from very pale yellowish to dark brown, 

 paler below; nearly all specimens are thickly sprinkled witn 

 minute dark brown dots as in Jordan and Richardson's figure 

 of Pisoodonophis macgregori. Dorsal and anal edged more or 

 less with blackish, the dorsal sometimes with a dusky spot near 

 its origin ; pectorals all pale in my specimens and in one specimen 

 all the fins are colorless. 



This eel is found in the seas, bays, and brackish waters trom 

 Arabia and Madagascar to Japan, Australia, and the Samoan 



