OPHIOCEPHALUS. 



71 



^ Bepth of body 5 to 6| times in total length, length of head 3 to 3i 

 times. Head If to 2 times as long as broad; lower jaw projecting 

 beyond upper; snout rounded, 1 (young) to 2 times as long as eye, 

 which is 5 (young) to 9 times in length of head and H to 2| times in 

 interorbital width ; maxillary extending beyond vertical of posterior 

 border of eye; a few large canines on each side of lower jaw; nasal 

 tentacle f to f diameter of eye; 10 to 12 series of scales between eye 

 and angle of prseoperculum. 8 or 9 short gill-rakers on lower part of 

 anterior arch. Dorsal 40-45, longest rays f to f length of head. Anal 

 2G-31. Pectoral ^ to f length of head, longer than ventral. Caudal 



Fig. 44. 



OphiocepJialus obscurus. 

 Gondokoro (F. N.). i. 



rounded or subacuminate. Caudal peduncle 1^ to If times as deep as 

 long. Scales striated, with entire or feebly denticulate border, 62-76 

 above lateral line, p^jg below first dorsal ray ; lateral-line tubes 34-42. 

 Olive above, greyish beneath ; a lateral series of large, rounded, oval, 

 or rhombic dark spots edged with black, sometimes with a light outer 

 border ; irregular blackish spots above and beneath the lateral series ; 

 a broad blackish band along each side of the head, from the eye to the 

 edge of the gill-cover ; lower surface of head marbled with whitish ; 

 fins greyish olive, spotted with black. Young with a broad blackish 

 lateral band to the root of the caudal fin, followed, on the basal part of 

 the latter, by a small, black, light-edged ocellar spot. 



Total length 350 millim. 



White Nile, Bahr-el-Gebel, Chad Basin, Senegal to Congo. 



