85,2 Herre: Philippine Eels 217 



little shorter than tail; eyes of small to medium size a little 

 forward of middle of gape, 9 to 17.3 in head and 1.9 to 2.6 in 

 the rather short, oblong, bluntly rounded snout; mouth large, its 

 cleft from a little more than twice to 2.5 in head; the lower jaw 

 becomes much curved in large old specimens so that the mouth 

 cannot be closed completely; dorsal of moderate height, less 

 than half the depth of body, its origin slightly in advance of 

 gill openings, which are much larger than eyes; posterior nos- 

 trils somewhat tubulate, slightly anterior to or hardly above 

 front margin of eyes ; maxillary teeth slender, compressed, sharp 

 pointed, larger anteriorly, ten or twelve on each side; young 

 examples are said to have an inner anterior row of three long 

 and slender teeth; intermaxillary plate has an outer row of 

 eight to ten large sharp teeth with two mesial depressible 

 canines, the posterior one being very long; nineteen or twenty 

 teeth on each side of lower jaw, the second and third from 

 symphysis being very large canines; all jaw teeth strongly 

 directed backwards ; vomer has about six pairs of teeth arranged 

 in a broadly diverging fork, followed by a few teeth forming a 

 single posterior row; vomerine teeth small and sharp pointed; 

 the teeth forming one side of the Y are often missing, as is the 

 case in my smallest specimen. 



Fresh specimens are everywhere of a rich purplish brown, 

 which becomes paler and more or less yellowish in alcohol; the 

 back and sides are densely mottled and spotted with very dark 

 purplish brown to blackish, the spots larger and more irregular 

 posteriorly; the fins colored and blotched like the body, but 

 darker ; the spots on the head are very small and are absent on 

 the jaws and snout, the last very dark in color; the inside of 

 the mouth is also dark purplish brown. 



Color in alcohol ranges from yellowish to dark brown, and 

 dark purplish brown, everywhere mottled or spotted and blotched 

 with deep brown or blackish; these spots may fuse to form 

 larger irregular patches; fins concolorous but darker, dorsal 

 dusky or blackish ; dorsal and anal usually with a pale yellowish 

 or whitish margin, this sometimes visible only posteriorly and on 

 caudal or entirely absent ; a dark spot usually at corner of mouth ; 

 gill openings always in a large black or dark brown blotch ; the 

 spots on head small to very small; jaws and snout unspotted and 

 usually very dark. 



A very robust female specimen, containing eggs, nearly ready 

 to spawn, was caught April 23, 1922, at Monja Island, which 

 lies at the entrance to Manila Bay. Its dimensions are as 



