1849.] Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. 995 



Mesoprion johnii, (Bloch.) 



Camboto, Renard T. I. PI. 31. 



Anthias johnii, Bloch, IX. 97, PI. 318. 



Lutj anus johnii, Lacepede IV. 235. 



Spams tranquebaricus, Shaw IV. 471. 



Russell XCVII. Doondiawah. 



Coius catus, Buchanan Ham. 90, 369, PI. 38, fig. 30. 



Mesoprion unimaculatus, Quoy and Gaim. Zool. de Freyc. 304, PI. 5. 



fig. 3. 



Mesoprion unimaculatus, Cuv. R. A. II. 143,< 3) . 



Mesoprion johnii, Cuv. and Val. II. 443. 



Mesoprion unimaculatus, Cuv. and Val. II. 441. 



Mesoprion unimaculatus, Richardson: Report 1845, 229. 



Mesoprion unimaculatus, Bleeker : Verh. Bat. Gen. XXII. 4, 20, 42. 



Head above and back greyish green, opercles silvery with golden 

 edges ; sides silvery with numerous longitudinal blackish lines, pro- 

 duced by a central spot or line on each scale ; beneath the middle of 

 the base of the dorsal rays a large black spot, in front of which, in 

 some, two or three blackish vertical bands, terminating a little below 

 the lateral line ; abdomen yellowish white or silvery ; fins reddish yel- 

 low ; upper margin of the membrane of the dorsal spines blackish ; of 

 that of the rays and the posterior margin of the caudal fin pale carmine. 

 Iris pale golden. 



D 10/14, C 17f, A 3/8, V 1/5, P. 16 or 17, Br. VII. 



Habit. — Sea and estuaries of Pinang, Malayan Peninsula. 



Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal, Gangetic estuaries, island of 

 Lantao (Canton River), China Seas, Celebes, Amboina, 

 Batavia, Tagal, Samarag, Surubaya, Pasuruan. 



Total length : 10 inch. 



The intensity of the black lateral spot and lines differs individually, 

 and such which habitually live in brackish muddy water, have a general 

 blackish hue, and two or three vertical blackish bands in front of the 

 constant lateral spot. Such was the individual first described by 

 Bloch as Anthias johnii, which denomination therefore takes precedence. 

 M. M. Cuvier and Valenciennes, indeed, question the specific difference 

 between the latter, and Mesoprion unimaculatus, and point out the 

 identity of Coius catus, Buch. Ham. and the present species. The first 



