TRIAENODON OBTUSUS. 163 



Triaenodon obesus. 



Carcharias obesus Ruppell, 1835, Neue wirb. Abyssinien, Fische, p. 64, pi. 18, f. 2. 



Triaenodon obesus Muller & Henlb, 1841, Plagios., p. 55, pi. 20; Dum^ril, 1665, Elasm., p. 386; 



GuNTH., 1870, Cat. fishes Brit, mus., 8, p. 383; Klunzinger, 1871, Syn. fische, 2, p. 227; Gunther, 



1910, Sudsee fische, 3, p. 482. 

 Leptocharias obesus Gray, 1851, Chondropterygii, p. 51. 



Head broader than deep, narrowing forward; snout short, broad, broadly 

 rounded in front, not as long as the mouth. Nostrils nearer to the mouth than 

 to the end of the snout; anterior valves folded inward so as to appear double, 

 with a short rounded lobe. Mouth wide, greatly arched, labial folds short, 

 hardly extended along the jaws. Teeth small, numerous, with a stronger more 

 or less oblique median cusp and at each side of the base of this one to two smaller 

 ones, in 45-47 rows. Eye small, nictitating membrane well developed. No 

 spiracle. Gill openings narrow, greatest width equal to length of orbit, hind- 

 most above the base of the pectoral. Hind margins of fins indented; hinder 

 angles of dorsals and anal produced. Pectorals longer than wide, outer angle 

 rather sharp. First dorsal twice as large as the second, at a distance behind the 

 pectorals and reaching to a vertical from the ventrals. Second dorsal little larger 

 than the anal, origin little if any farther forward and base and tip extending 

 little farther backward than those of that fin. Caudal little more than one 

 fourth of the total length, with a pit at the root above, and with a sharply pro- 

 duced subcaudal lobe, subcaudal narrow between the notch and the lobe. 



Rusty or ashy brown, lighter beneath, edges of fins darker except tips of 

 dorsals and caudals, which are white. 



Red Sea; Indian Ocean. 



Triaenodon obtusus. 



Triaenodon obtusus Day, 1878, Ind. fishes, p. 720, pi. 189, f. 3. 



Snout short, length hardly equal to half the width of the mouth. Nostrils 

 nearer to the end of the snout than to the mouth; anterior valve with a short 

 pointed lobe. Width of the mouth more than twice the length ; labial folds short, 

 at the angles. Teeth with a small median cusp and a single smaller lateral denti- 

 cle at each side of its base. Dorsal origin close behind the bases of the pectorals, 

 fin not reaching to the ventrals. Applied to the side the pectoral subtends half 

 or more of the dorsal; fin longer than wide, outer angle produced, blunted. Sec- 

 ond dorsal and anal subequal, the former above the latter and very little in ad- 



