1050 Catalogue of Malayan Fishes. [Oct. 



D 10—1/24, C 17|, A 2/7, V 1/5, P 19 or 20, Br. VII. 



Habit. — Sea of Pinang, Malayan Peninsula, Singapore. 



Malabar, Coromandel, Bay of Bengal, Gangetic estuaries, 

 Tenasserim, Canton, China Seas, Madura, Java. 



Total length : 2 feet 9 inch. 



The length of the head is 3^ in the total, the caudal fin not included. 

 In the young the latter fin is rhomboidal, very pointed, and its length 

 equal to that of the head ; but with age the point becomes worn, and 

 in the adult the length is but f of that of the head, or equal to the 

 depth at the occiput. The oblique diameter of the eye is a little less 

 than £ of the length of the head ; the distance from the muzzle to the 

 eye exceeds the diameter by %. The vertical diameter in front of the 

 dorsal fin is j of the total length. The teeth of the external series of 

 the upper jaw are long, distant, and there is generally a canine on one 

 or both sides, at a little distance from the symphysis. The lower jaw 

 has a smaller canine on each side of the symphysis, and an internal series 

 of longer conical teeth. Under the symphysis appear four large pores, 

 and in some a fifth, very minute. The air-vessel, | of the length of 

 the fish, is of a broad, lanceolate shape, tapering behind into a very 

 elongated point. Each side has 20 to 24 processes, of which the two 

 posterior pairs are simple or bipartite ; the rest branching. The con- 

 tents of the stomach of one dissected were the remains of a species of 

 Leptocephalus and an eel, of Crustacea, and of a Loligo. At Pinang 

 individuals of this species occur at all seasons, but in numbers and of 

 the largest size, from June to August. They are not only valued as 

 articles of food, but also on account of the quantity and quality of the 

 isinglass, which sells in the China market from 40 to 45 Spanish Dollars 

 per Pikul. 



Johnius maculatus,* Bloch-Schneider, Var. ? 

 Head above and back dark greyish green, lighter, silvery on the 

 cheeks, opercles and sides, the scales minutely dotted with black, not, 

 however, sufficiently to influence the general colour ; abdomen silvery ; 

 membrane of dorsal spines transparent with black margin ; between 

 the anterior six spines dotted throughout, and rather largely with black 

 and brown ; between the four posterior spines the central part of the 



* Syn. Russell CXXIII. Sari Kulla. — Johnius maculatus, Bl. Schn. 75. — 

 Corvina maculala, Cuvier and Valenciennes, V. 126. 



