23,2 H err e: Philippine Eels 187 



A greatly elongated and slender eel with a long head, pro- 

 jecting lower jaw, and large and baggy buccal cavity; tubules to 

 anterior nostrils very short, forming covers to nostrils, the 

 openings minute; posterior nos- 

 trils much larger, open, each ^....^ $T% 

 with a small flap at the forward 

 margin; dorsal and anal fins 

 high and well developed near 

 their origin and for a distance |^ fe eg 1* c? ^ 

 about equal to that from tip of **" 

 snout to tip of pectorals; then 

 follows an interspace of greater § $ c ^ 

 extent, the fins reappearing near ? * V * 3 



tip Of tail and Uniting With Fig. 8. Moringua cagayana Seale, denti- 



caudal fin to form a broad, % ^^^X'^^.'' x^^^^'' 

 paddle-shaped organ. 



Color in alcohol brown, with a very dark brown line along 

 middle of back; last half of tail blackish brown as are the dorsal 

 and anal fins; pectorals hyaline; body everywhere punctulate 

 with minute dark dots. 



The type and only specimen, Bureau of Science collection No. 

 1621, was caught in the sea near Cagayan, Mindanao, September 

 13 1907 by Mr. Alvin Seale. It is a female, approximately 

 616 millimeters in length, with the body wall distended to paper 

 thinness by the mass of eggs evidently about ready for extrusion, 

 and giving a yellow color to the distorted abdomen. In common 

 with many other fishes, the ovaries in this species extend much 

 farther posteriorly than the anal opening; beginning very ±ar 

 forward, the ovaries are approximately 400 millimeters long 

 while the trunk, from gill opening to anus, is only about 364 

 millimeters long. 



Owing to the softness and the distortion of the abdomen, mea- 

 surements can only be approximate, but the characters are 

 sufficiently defined to show this to be a unique species. 

 Genus APHTHAIMICHTHYS Kaup 

 Aphthalmichthys Kaup, Arch. Naturg. 22 (1856) 68; Cat. Apod. 

 Fishes Brit. Mus. (1856) 105. 



Body scaleless, wormlike, its greatest depth from 35 to 100 

 in length. Dorsal and anal fins rudimentary, inconspicuous, 

 threadlike folds, but little developed except around tip of tad, 

 Lotorals wanting or vestigial and barely perceptible; eyes rudi- 

 :"a™ror Js covered by thick skin; lower ;aw 



