1376 Catalogue of Malayan Fishes, [Dec. 



{Adult.) Above uniformly ash-coloured or yellowish grey ; whitish 

 beneath. Iris silvery, of the ground colour. (Ra Sorrah, Russel.— 

 " Vielleicht eine Varietal," Midler und Henle. — ) 



Total length : 1 ft. 5 inch to 2 ft. 4 inch. 



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



Indian Ocean, Seas of China and Japan (Richardson), 

 Coasts of Brazil (M. und H.) 



The anterior dorsal fin commences immediately above the termina- 

 tion of the ventrals ; the posterior dorsal commences as far from the 

 anal as the extent of its own base. In young individuals the scales are 

 narrow lanceolate and keeled ; in the adult they are tetragonal or sub- 

 rhombic, with a polished, not keeled, surface. In the young fish appears 

 along the centre of the back a keel composed of scales larger than the 

 rest ; on each side, a little below the central keel appears a similar, 

 which borders the upper third of the side. From the root of the ven- 

 tral fins to the commencement of the anal appears on each side a third 

 keel, which separates the sides from the abdomen. With age the 

 dorsal keel becomes indistinct, but the others appear to vanish. In 

 young individuals the male appendages do not extend beyond the ante- 

 rior half of the inner margin of the ventral fins ; in mature age their 

 length is double that of the inner margin of the ventrals. The livery 

 of the newborn and mature individuals is as constant as that of the 

 intermediate age is liable to variations. The latter, which are but tran- 

 sitory garbs, have been described as constant and distinct Varieties by 

 M. M. Miiller und Henle. Russell is the only observer who described 

 the mature fish. There appears, however, to exist a constant Variety, 

 which is above of a uniform golden bronze colour, paler beneath, with 

 reddish golden fins and with the iris of burnished gold. This Variety 

 is rarely seen in the Straits of Malacca, at Madras,* and in the Bay of 

 Bengal, as far as the 21st degree. In the Straits of Malacca the species 

 is at all seasons excessively numerous. 



* Walter Elliot, Esquire, possesses an adult male of this Variety, measuring 

 2 ft. 2| inch in length. 





