70 
MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 
THE SLIPPERY, 
Blackfish; Fresii-water Blackfisii; River Blackfish; Tailor or Tailer 
(at Guntawang, N.S.W.) ; Marbled River Cod. 
(Plate XX.) 
Depth of body 4-5 to 5-4, length of head 3-6 to 4-1, of caudal fin 4-8 to 5-9, 
of pectoral 5*85 to 7-55, of ventral 6-25 to 7-8 in length of body. Length of 
snout 3 1 to 3-6, diameter of eye 4*8 to 6-55, width of interorbit 3-9 to 5, length 
of maxillary 215 to 2-6, of mandible 1-75 to 2*15, height of soft dorsal 1-75 to 
2-35, of anal 2 to 2-65 in length of head. 
Body tapering gracefully from the shoulders backward, its width 1*4 to 
1-6 in its depth, which is 1 15 to 1-45 in the length of the head: caudal peduncle 
slender, its least depth, which is immediately behind the dorsal fin, 1-35 to 1-6 in 
its length and 2-45 to 2 9 in the depth of the body. Head deeper than wide, its 
upper profile more or loss gibbous behind the frontal region, its width at the 
cheeks, which are somewhat swollen, 1*7 to 2 in its length, which is 1 to 1*3 in 
that of the trunk. Anterior profile of snout strongly convex, the upper linear or 
feebly convex and continuous with the frontal region. Diameter of eye 1*5 to 
1*9 in the length of the snout, 1-1 to 1-4 in that of the convex interorbital width, 
and 2-6 to 3-3 in the postorbital length of the head. Maxillary extending to below 
or a little behind the pupil, the width of its distal expansion 1-4 to 1-8 in the 
eye-diameter. 
Lateral line following the contour of the back, and consisting of from 45 
to 50 tubes, each of which corresponds to from 2 to 3 series of body-scales. 
Mucous system of head reaching the surface by means of large open pores, of 
which there are two principal series; an inner from the snout along the edges 
of the preorbital and suborbital bones, finally curving upwards behind the eye; 
and an outer along the mandibles and the border of the preopercle ; in addition to 
these there are a conspicuous pair arranged transversely between each pair of 
nostrils, and a third pair arranged longitudinally along the middle of the 
inter orbital region. 
D. viii to x 28 to 26; A. iii 17 to 19; P. 17. Dorsal fin originating above 
the middle of the appressed pectoral, the last spine longest, 11 to 1*45 in the 
length of the snout and 1-6 to 2-35 in the longest ray, which is near the end of 
the fin and does not reach to the caudal when depressed.* Anal originating 
below the fifth or sixth dorsal ray, and not extending so far back as that 
fin ; spines graduated like those of the dorsal, but much stronger and pungent, 
the last as long as or a little longer than that of the dorsal and 1-5 to 2 in 
* In Richardson ’s figure the rays are depicted as reaching well beyond the base of the 
caudal. 
