204 The Philippine Journal of Science 1923 



easily be the longest. It frequents shallow seas and the mouths 

 of rivers, sometimes ascending the latter, and is found from 

 Natal to Formosa, the Pelew Islands, and Queensland. 



Genus PSEUDECHIDNA Bleeker 



Pseudechidna Bleeker, Ned. Tijdschr. Dierk. 1 (1863) 272. 

 Strophidon McClelland, Calcutta Journ. Nat. Hist. 5 (1844) 187. 

 A genus of morays notable for the extreme length and slender- 

 ness of the compressed body, the origin of the dorsal strongly 

 in advance of the gill opening, and the great number of fin rays, 

 those in the dorsal being about 628, and in the anal about 335. 

 In Gymnothorax and Echidna there are never more than from 

 250 to 400 rays in the dorsal and 150 to 280 in the anal. The 

 height of the body is contained from 40 to 55 times in the 

 total length, while the tail is less than twice the length of the 

 head and trunk; the posterior nostrils have no tubes; the teeth 

 are not serrated. 



But one species is positively known. 

 Pseudechidna bmmmeri Bleeker. 



Mursena brummeri Bleeker, Nat. Tijdschr. Ned. Ind. 17 (1858-59) 



137. 



Pseudechidna brummeri Bleeker, Ned. Tijdschr. Dierk. 1 (1863) 272. 



Strophidon brummeri Bleeker, Atlas Ichth. Muraen. 4 (1864) 109, 



pi. 18, fig. 1; Jordan and Snyder, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 23 (1901) 



885. 



Strophidon polyodon Bleeker, Atlas Ichth. Muraen. 4 (1864) 109, 



pi. 19, fig. 3. 

 Mursena brummeri Gunther, Fische d. Siidsee 3 (1910) 420; Weber 



and Beaufort, Fishes Indo-Austr. Arch. 3 (1916) 359, fig. 179. 



Gymnothorax megapterus Max Weber, Siboga Exp., Fische (1913) 



57, pi. 7, fig. 1. 



Depth 40 to 55 in total length, head 12 to 17, and 4.6 to 7.25 



in trunk; head and trunk together nearly as long as tail or more 



than a fourth shorter; head small, weak, lower jaw particularly 



so; eye covered with skin, 14 to 20 in length of head, 1.75 to 



2.5 in snout and just forward of middle of cleft of mouth, which 



closes completely and is 3.7 to 4 in head; snout acutely rounded, 



7 to 8 in head; posterior nostril above anterior margin of eye; 



dorsal fin begins from one-fourth to one-third the length of 



head before gill openings; anterior portion of dorsal equal in 



height to depth of body but posterior portion is 1.5 times the 



depth of tail; a r^ow of five large pores on each side of jaws 



and a double row of four on top of snout. 



