154, b. 



Ophichthys orientalis Gunther, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus. 8 (1870) 87; 

 Day, Fishes of India (1878-88) 665, pi. 171, fig. 1. 

 Depth 30.55 to 35.5 in length, head 7.88 to a trifle more than 

 8, and 2.88 to 3.1 in trunk; tail about same length as, or a little 

 more or less than, head and trunk together; eyes small, 14.4 

 to 20 in head and 3 to 3.4 in snout, which is very sharp pointed 

 and much exceeds mouth; measured from tip of snout to angle 

 of mouth, the gape is contained from 3 to 3.5 in head ; anterior 

 nostrils on the flat undersurface of snout near tip, the margin 

 wrinkled and earlike, longest posteriorly; posterior nostrils in 

 upper lip, looking downward, before eyes, just behind a pen- 

 dulous papilla; origin of dorsal very close to gill openings, the 

 distance between being one-seventh to one-ninth the length of 

 head; the vertical fins are low but plainly evident and are 

 interrupted posteriorly by an interspace where they are 

 reduced to a fold, becoming expanded again and terminating 

 near tip of tail, as shown in the figure ; teeth in one row in jaws 

 and on vomer, very small, acute, and nearly uniform in size, 

 those of lower jaw a little stouter and longer ; three or four pairs 

 of stouter teeth on intermaxillary plate, almost concealed by the 

 overlying flaps of upper lip ; gill openings ventral, oblique, close 

 together, curved and converging anteriorly; the anterior gill 

 membranes form a longer duplication just outside of and extend- 

 ing farther forward than the gill openings; a row of paired 

 pores on snout, extending around eyes, and a less conspicuous 

 row on lower jaw; lateral line originating on occiput. 



Color of alcoholic specimens uniform dark brown above, be- 

 coming paler on sides and yellowish brown beneath ; upper part 

 of body speckled with innumerable minute dark dots ; chin and 

 throat much paler ; a series of round whitish spots across occiput 

 and a short whitish bar composed of similar spots directed 

 forward along each side toward eyes; whitish around eyes and 

 along upper lips. 



A small eel, the body as broad as deep, very abundant at 

 Madras and along the coasts of India and Ceylon; also known 

 from Madagascar and a single specimen from British New Gui- 

 nea. The lower jaw is noticeably weak, the contour of snout 

 and jaws very similar to that of the Cirrhimuraenidae. 



