46 MALAYAN FISHES. 



frontal bone and the tissues supporting the fin, appears to pass from 

 side to side through the head, as was believed by some of the earlier 

 •observers. '^ 



As a food supply the flat-fishes are of great importance, the 

 flesh of the majority being of excellent quality and flavour, and 

 they are deservedly popular with Europeans in Malaya. 



The family is represented in our waters by, certainly, not less 

 than 19 species, of which 12 are included in the systematic list in 

 this work. 



The Malay generic terms are Ikan sabelah and Ikan lidah 



for all members of this family, but in some districts the name 

 Sabelah is applied to those genera which have a distinct caudal 

 fin {Psettodes, Pseudorhomhlius) and the name Lidah to the tongue- 

 ■shaped genera (Synaptura, Plagusia, C i/noghssiis) . 



In the Straits of Malacca these fish are very common in shallow 

 water on sand and mud where they keep close to the bottom. This 

 habit of keeping dose to the bottom renders them particularly, 

 liable to capture by the Ijeam or " Otter " trawl. I have taken 

 these fish in a beam trawl in fair numbers both off Singapore and 

 ■off the Krian coast. 



On the great Kra flats ofE Ivrian which are formed of very soft 

 mud I found it necessary to fit " ski "' or wooden skates to the irons 

 ■of the trawl to enaible the trawl to slide on the surface of the mud, 

 and took considerable numbers of these fish as well as some large 

 Eays. 



I should expect a trawler to be successful on the long l3anks 

 and in the deep water gullies which, as a glance at the chart will 

 shew, run in the direction of the prevailing currents, in many parts 

 ■of the steamer route between Penang and Singapore. 



An enormous amount of destruction of imma>ture flat fish 

 takes place daily in shallow water, specimens an inch or two in 

 length being taken in seine nets and purse-nets from one end of 

 the Straits to the other. A special effort should be made to stop 

 this murder of miniature fish which has diminished our food supply 

 to a very considerahle extent. , 



Two species o'f our Ikan sabelah are found on the Queens- 

 land coast. One, Psettodes crumei, is known as the Queensland 

 Halibut, and the other, Pseudorhombus nisellii, is generally called 

 the " Flounder." 



GOBIES. 



(GOBI I DAE.) 



A large faniilv of some 600 species, the great majority marine, 

 mostly carnivorous and of small size. 



The largest form (Eleotris marmorata) from the rivers of Siam, 

 Borneo. Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula grows to nearly three 

 feet, whilst the smallest {Mystichthys Imonensis) from the Philip- 



1 Cambridge Nat. History. 



