1849.] Catalogue of Malayan Fishes, 10/5 



Iris amber-coloured, orange or reddish golden round the pupil, the 

 rest golden olive, clouded with black. 



D 41, 42 or 43, C l4|, A 25, 26 or 27, V 6, P 16 or 17, Br. V. 



Habit. — Freshwater and estuaries, Malayan Peninsula and Islands , 

 Manilla, Celebes, Tenasserim, Rangoon, Irawaddy, Gan- 

 ges, Bengal, Barrampootr,Goalparah,Coromandel, Malabar, 

 Hindostan. 



Total length : 2 feet. 



The length of the head is from 3J to 3f in the total ; (it is J of the 

 distance from the muzzle to the last dorsal ray ;) the height at the 

 occiput is 2^- in the length. The horizontal diameter of the eyes 

 slightly exceeds |- of the length of the head ; their distance across the 

 forehead equals two such diameters. The vertical diameter at the first 

 dorsal ray is \ of the length of the head. The anterior part of the 

 lateral line gradually descends towards the commencement of the se- 

 cond third of the dorsal, from whence it proceeds straight to the root 

 of the caudal. The line is marked on each scale by a short central 

 tube, which bifurcates. The number of component scales vary from 

 60 to 62. An oblique series from the anus consists of 18 to 20 scales. 

 In these and other characters the Malayan individuals exactly corre- 

 spond to O. striatus, Bloch, as described by M. M. Cuvier and Valen- 

 ciennes. Individuals of 0. wrahl ? apud Buchanan Hamilton, (Sol,) 

 taken in the vicinity of Calcutta, differ but slightly in colours, and in 

 presenting from 43 to 46 dorsal, and from 26 to 28 anal rays. O. 

 chena, Buch. Ham. offers the same number of rays as the latter, and 

 appears but to be another variety, probably as Buchanan suggests, the 

 identical one which Bussell figured No. CLXII. Muttah. In tbe 

 Malayan countries, the fish is as numerous as in Bengal, and it is also 

 there eaten by the natives, 



FAM. MUGILISIME. 



Gen. Mugil, (Artedi,) Linne, 1748. 

 Body nearly cylindrical, covered with large scales ; two dorsal fins 

 widely separated : the anterior spinous, the posterior with one or two 

 spines, the rest rays; ventrals behind the pectorals; centre of the 

 lower jaw with an elongated angular point, corresponding to a notch 

 in the upper jaw ; teeth minute. Branchiostegous rays six. 



