34 



former extremities, decides the place of this animal. But when we take into 

 account the colours of the flakes which spot its whole body, the very slight 

 indentation of the lobes of the hinder extremities, and the entire absence of a 

 tail, it seems as if it had claims to be regarded as an entirely new species. 



Art. VII. — On a species o/* Ophisurus, found on the Coast of New Zealand. 

 By James Hector, M.D., F.R.S. With anatomical observations, by F. 

 J. Knox, L.R.C.S.E. 



(With Illustrations.) 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, August 14, 1869.] 



The genus Ophisurus includes a section of the Eel family, which has not been 

 previously recognized as represented by any fish on the New Zealand coast. 

 The only eels mentioned in the lists of New Zealand fishes, are two fresh water 

 species, Anguilla Australis (also found in Australia), and Anguilla Dieffenbachii, 

 which Richardson considers as only a variety of the former, and a Conger Eel 

 (Gongus habenatus), which is found in Cook's Strait, and on other parts of the 

 coast. 



In Richardson's work " On the Antarctic Fishes," he describes twenty- 

 five species of Ophisurus, but they all appear to have been obtained from 

 tropical seas, and none of them present the same characters as the fish which I 

 have to describe. 



The specimen was received, with the following memoranda, from Mr. 

 Atkinson, R.M. — " Puni Horua, caught in a tidal creek, near Makaraka, 

 Poverty Bay, June 24, 1869." 



The form and colour of the specimen has been considerably altered by the 

 spirit in which it had been preserved, but it presents the distinctive charac- 

 teristics of the Ophisurus, or Snake-Eels, having the slender, compressed head, 

 and slightly expanded snout, and the tail prolonged to a naked point, beyond 

 the dorsal and anal fins. Its colour is dark chesnut-brown, with a silvery 

 lustre beneath. The nasal disk is bordered by six acute subulate teeth, and 

 on the mesial line, two minute teeth, and one stout acute tooth. Behind this, 

 the vomerine teeth form a single row in the mesial line, commencing with two 

 stout teeth, and continued by twelve minute, recurved, subulate teeth. 

 Palatine teeth are uniserial, consisting of thirty-four minute teeth, with 

 recurved tips, extending from the nasal disk to the angle of the mouth. The 

 mandibular teeth are uniserial, and correspond, in number and form, to those 

 on the nasal disk, and palatines. The eyes are placed in the middle of the 

 gape, about half the diameter of the orbit below the top of the head. The 

 gill openings are large, and placed in front of the pectoral fin, which is small 

 and acute. The dorsal commences over the pectorals, and lies in a groove 

 extending to within half an inch of the tip of the tail ; its greatest height being 

 thi'ee lines. The anal extends to within three lines of the tip of the tail, and 

 is four lines wide, immediately behind the anus. The total length of the fish 

 is thirty-four inches ; tip of nose to anus, thirteen inches ; to gill openings, two 

 inches six lines ; length of gape, one inch four lines. The nearest species 

 described by Richardson is 0. Eostellatus, % from Senegal, but it presents marked 

 differences in the dentition, having a different number of teeth, which are 

 biserial; and in the pectoral fins, which, in 0. Rostellatus, are large and oval. 

 The proportions are also slightly different. I therefore propose to distinguish 

 this fish as a new species, and call it Ophisurus Novce Zelandice. 



* Richardson's " Antarctic Fishes," p. 105 



