984 Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. [Oct. 



abdomen silvery ; pectorals and ventrals pale yellow, the other fins 

 brownish or blackish. Iris blackish golden ; pupil cornelian red. 



*D 7 or 8—1/11 or 12, C 18 or 17f, A 3/8 or 9, V 1/5, P. 17 or 18 

 Br. VII. 



Habit. — Sea and estuaries o/Pinang, Malayan Peninsula, Singapore. 



Bay of Bengal, estuaries of the Ganges, Indian Ocean, China Sea, 

 Canton, Java, Madura. 



Total length, 5 feet. 



Those inhabiting brackish water are of a muddy flavour, and blackish 

 or of much darker colours than those living in the sea. The species 

 appears to be less numerous in the Straits of Malacca than in Bengal. 

 Both in fresh and in dried state, it is highly valued as an article of food. 

 It also yields isinglass, of which however, in the Straits, but little is 

 collected, partly on account of the comparative scarcity of the fish, and 

 partly owing to the thinness of the air-vessel. That of a large-sized 

 fish when dried, weighs upwards of one ounce. At Pinang this kind 

 sells at the rate of 25 to 30 Spanish Dollars pr. Pikul. 



Gen. Apogon, Lacepede, 1802. 



Scales large, deciduous ; the two short dorsals widely separated ; 

 margin of the preopercle double, finely toothed ; pyloric appendages 

 few. 



Apogon pcecilopterus, Kuhl. and Van Hasselt? 



? Apogon pcecilopterus, Cuv. and Val. II. 154 

 Head above, back and upper half of the sides reddish brown ; lower 

 half and abdomen mother of pearl ; crown and sides of the head 

 minutely dotted with black ; opercles silvery ; on the tail, in the mid- 

 dle of the base of the caudal, a large rounded blackish spot ; membrane 

 between first, second and third spines black ; rest hyaline, minutely 

 dotted with brown ; posterior dorsal, caudal and anal, pale yellowish, 

 dotted with pale brown, ventrals pale yellowish ; pectorals hyaline. 

 Iris mother of pearl, upper half black. 



D 6—1/9, C 15f, A 2/8, V 1/5, P 13, Br. VII. 



* Russell : D 7—1/13, C 18, A 3/9, V 1/5, P 15. 

 Buchan: D 7—1/12, C 18, A 3/11, V 1/5, P 17. 

 Cuv. and Val : D 7 or 8—1/12, A 3/8 or 9. 



