228 The Philippine Journal of Science 1923 



Gymnothorax kidako (Schlegel). 



Mursena kidako Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, Poiss. (1846) 266, pi. 117. 

 Mursena similis Richardson, Voyage Erebus and Terror, Fishes 



(1844-48) 83. 

 Mursena nubila Gunther, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus. 8 (1870) 117, pro 

 parte syn. et text. 



Mus. 23 



Depth 2.12 in head and 16.37 in total length; head 7.7 in 

 total length, 4.17 in tail, and 2.53 in trunk; head and trunk 

 together a little shorter than tail, which is a little more than 

 54 per cent of the whole length; eyes contained 10.2 in head 

 and twice in snout ; width of gill openings four-fifths the diameter 

 of eyes; mouth large, its cleft 2.2 in head; maxillaries have 

 sixteen to eighteen small teeth, becoming smaller posteriorly, 

 with two to three longer depressible teeth forming an inner row 

 opposite anterior end of outer row; intermaxillary plate with 

 about twelve large, pointed, fixed teeth in outer row and three 

 mesial, needlelike, depressible canines, the posterior one longest ; 

 eight small rounded teeth forming an irregular partially double 

 row on vomer; twenty to twenty-five teeth in each lower jaw 

 with three pairs of larger teeth near symphysis. Origin of 

 dorsal approximately one-third the length of head forward of 

 gill openings, its height a trifle more than one-third the body 

 depth at middle of trunk or at anus. 



Color in alcohol rich purplish dark brown, somewhat darker 

 posteriorly, spotted with irregular lichenlike whitish blotches, 

 which join to form irregular transverse bands on trunk and 

 dorsal fin; on posterior half of tail they become reduced to 

 three and then two rows of spots ; anal fin with a dark brown 

 band and a very distinct white margin; buccal grooves with 

 dark streaks; lining of mouth and throat dark purplish and 

 apparently angle of mouth had a dark spot; dorsal colored like 

 body. 



Here described from a specimen taken by Gregorio Lopez, 

 of the Bureau of Science, from the stomach of a sea snake, 

 Laticauda colubrina, at Santo Domingo de Basco, Batan Island, 

 Batanes Province, November 20, 1921. It bears a very close 

 resemblance in both color and shape to the figure of Aemasia 

 lichenosa Jordan and Snyder. « Jordan and Snyder note the 

 resemblance between these two eels but state that the pale edge 

 of the anal in Gymnothorax kidako separates it at sight. In 



u Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 23 (1901) 883, fig. 20. 



