Herre: Philippine Eels 



n\i.' 



short rows, the forward end more or less forked ; the very young 

 have but one short series; teeth in lower jaws in two rows in the 

 young, the outer series of small teeth disappearing with age and 

 remaining more or less evident around tip of jaw. 



Color in alcohol handsome brownish gray, flecked and speck- 

 led with innumerable small to minute black spots, which are few 

 or absent beneath, and on anal fin ; even the eyes are spotted ; in 

 the very young the ground color is yellow, with three irregular 

 lengthwise rows of circular blackish spots about the size of 

 eye, which soon have a yellow center ; as the fish grows the spots 

 become irregular and the yellow center increases in size till they 

 are broken up and the adult pattern finally develops; but in 

 many specimens traces of the first color pattern are evident, the 

 spots being confluent and forming more or less ring-shaped 

 figures. 



I have examined several specimens from Calapan, Mindoro, 

 and the species has been recorded from Samar by Peters, from 

 southern Negros by Jordan and Seale, and from Ticao, Cuyo, 

 and Cagayancillo Islands by Jordan and Richardson. 



This handsome and distinct eel reaches a length of nearly 800 

 millimeters and occurs on reefs and along seacoasts from the 

 east coast of Africa, Natal, and Madagascar to Australia, the 

 islands of the south Pacific, Hawaii, and the Riu Kiu Islands. 

 Gymnothorax thyrsoideus (Richardson). 



Mursena thyrsoidea Richardson, Voyage Sulphur, Ichth. (1844) 111; 



Voyage Erebus and Terror, Fishes (1844-48) 91; Gunther, Cat. 



Fishes Brit. Mus. 8 (1870) 113; Day, Fishes of India (1878-88) 



672, pi. 142, fig. 3; Weber and Beaufort, Fishes Indo-Austr. Arch. 



3 (1916) 365. 

 Gymnothorax prosopeion Bleeker, Atlas Ichth. Muram. 4 (1864) 88, 



pi. 39, fig. 3. 

 Gymnothorax thyrsoideus Bleeker, Atlas Ichth. Muram. 4 (1864) 



103 (description after Cantor) ; Jordan and Seale, Bull. U. S. Bur. 



Fisheries 25 (1905) (1906) 198. 



