BABBITS. 237 



19. BARBUS GORGUARI. 

 (Plate XLIV.) 



Barbus gorguari, Riippell, Mus. Senckenb. ii. p. 9, pi. i. fig. 4 (1837) ; Boulenger, Ann. & Mag. 



N. H. (7) x. 1902, p. 424. 

 Barbus elongatus, Riippell, 1. c. p. 11, pi. ii. fig. 1. 



Luciobarbus gorguari, Heckel, Russegger's Reise Egypt, iii. p. 324 (1846). 

 Luciobarbus elongatus, Heckel, 1. c. 



Depth of body three and three-fourths to four and a half times in the total length, 

 length of head three and one-fifth to three and five-sixths times. Snout rounded, its 

 length twice and two-thirds to three and a half times in the length of the head ; diameter 

 of eye four (young) to eight times in the length of the head, interorbital width three 

 and two-fifths to four times; mouth terminal, or lower jaw projecting; lips well 

 developed, interrupted on the chin ; barbels two on each side, as long as or shorter 

 than the eye, the space between them at least nearly as great as the diameter of the eye. 

 Dorsal fin with III-IV 8-9 rays, last simple ray very strong, bony, not serrated, straight 

 or feebly curved, two-fifths to two-thirds the length of the head ; free edge of the fin 

 more or less distinctly emarginate ; its distance from the occiput nearly equal to its 

 distance from the caudal. Anal fin with III 5 rays, longest ray three-fifths to three- 

 fourths the length of the head, usually reaching the root of the caudal in the adult. 

 Pectoral fin more or less pointed, two-thirds to four-fifths the length of the head, not 

 reaching the ventral ; latter below anterior rays of dorsal. Caudal deeply forked. 

 Caudal peduncle once and two-thirds to twice as long as deep. Scales longitudinally 



ki ax 



striated, 32-36 pip, 2J or 3 between lateral line and ventral, 12 round caudal 

 peduncle. 



This fish is very variable in shape as well as in coloration. Some specimens are 

 humped at the nape (B. gorguari, Rupp.), others are not (B. elongatus, Riipp.), whilst 

 others show every intermediate degree between the two extremes. 8 is the usual 

 number of branched rays in the dorsal, but 9 occurs in three out of the seventeen 

 specimens examined by me. 6^ scales in a transverse series above the lateral line 

 occurs twice, and 4 J below the lateral line occurs four times in the series examined. 



Riippell describes the colour as green above and yellow beneath. According to 

 Mr. Degen's notes and sketches, the upper parts may be green, silvery blue, brow r nish 

 yellow, coppery red, or blackish brown, the lower parts yellow or white ; red specimens 

 (No. 7 of Table) have a dark brown iris, with a carmine-red circle round the pupil, 

 whilst in others the colour of the iris is bronze-yellow. 



Total length 530 millim. 



This species is only known from Lake Tsana, where it was discovered, at Goraza, by 



