46 



MALAYAN FTSIIES. 



frontal hone ami tlie tiseuca supporting the fin, appt-arri to pas* from 

 side ta hide through t]iP head, as was liclieved hv some nf thv earlier 



As a food supply tlie ilat-fishes are of *^^vn\ importance, the 

 fle&h of the majority hmn^ of excellfiiit tjuality and flavour, and 

 the}' are deien edly ]Jopular with Europeans in Malaya. 



The family is ri?]>Teften tfd iu our waters by. rerUiiily, not leas 

 than in'spet'ips, of ivliich 15 are included in the sy:?tpmntic H.-t in 

 this work. 



The Malay generic terms are Ikan sabelah and \k»n lidah 



for all niemliers of thii? family, bnt hi mine districts the name 

 Sabelah is applied to those genera which have a ilidtiiict caudal 

 fin {Pjiefhdm, Pneudfjrhrnnbhu^^) and the name Lidah to the tongue- 

 shaped ^'eneni, (S}fitn[tiurfi, i^lagtma, ('ifnfMjlosstiM}, 



In the Straitii of Malaeca the.se tish are very mumou in HhaHow 

 water on ^and and mud where they keep cloee to the bottom. Thia 

 haihit of keeping dose to the liottoni reiulers them particularly 

 liable to rap+ute by the lieam or " Otter " trawl. I have taken 

 tliese fish iu a Ijeam trawl in fair numbers lioth isff :^in^?apore and 

 off the Tvrian raast. 



On tlie great Kra flatus oit' Krian whieh ure formed of very mit 

 mud I found it neeesumry to tit ^ki or wotalen skates to the irons 

 <>f the fcrawl to enable the trawl to slide on the surface of the mud, 

 ami took considerable numbers of thesie fisli m well as some large 

 Itays. 



J j^liould (»xpe>C!t a trawler to be ^ueeessful on tlie lonj:; banks 

 and in the deep water ^jullies whieh, as ti glanee at the chart will 

 shew, run in tlie <!ireet!oii of the prevailing currents, in many parts 

 of the steamer route between Peuaag and Singapore. 



An enormoua amount of deatrutitioa of immature flat fish 

 takci; place daily in sballovs' water, frpecimens an ineh or two in 

 len^iih hmng taken in seine nett? and purse-nets from one end of 

 the Btraits to the otlier. A sf>ecial effort sliould ho made to stop 

 this murder of miniature fiish whieh has diminished our food supply 

 to a very eonsiderftble extent. * 



Two species our Ikan sabelah are found on the Queens- 

 land coast, One^ P,9Htodes rtnmd, is known txs the Queensland 

 Halibut, and the ather, Psemhrhomhui} rmellii, h fzenerally called 

 the Flounder." 



GOBIES. 



(GOB! 1 DAE,) 



A lar^e family of hsome speeiegi, the ^eat majority marine, 

 mostly LiarnivorouK and of email t!jze. 



The lar^fc^t form {Ekoltis nmrmorata) f rom the rivers of Siam, 

 Borneo. Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula urowa to nearly three 

 feet, whiilst tlie .smallest {M iffitirhthtj^ Juzonrmk) from the Philip- 



1 CambrHlge Nat. History. 



