84 
MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 
PLESIOPIM. 
PHAROPTERYX MELAS (Bleeker). 
Plesiops melas Bleeker, Verh. Batav. Gen., xxii, 1849, Bali, p. 9. 
Plesiops nigricans var. apoda Kner, Sitzb. Akad. Wien, 1868, p. 54. Based on a specimen which 
had lost its ventral fins. 
Pharopteryx melas Jordan and Seale, Bull, U. S. Bar. Fisher., xxv, 1906, p. 261, pi. 
xxxviii, fig. 3. 
Depth of body 3*1 to 34, length of head 2-75 to 3, of caudal fin 3-5 to 4, of 
pectoral 3-0 to 4, of ventral 2-8 to 2*85 in length of body. Depth of peduncle 2-1 to 
2*2, length of snout 4-5 to 4-8, diameter of eye 3-5 to 4, width of interorbit 7 to 7-33, 
length of maxillary 1*9 to 2, of mandible 1*66 to 1*85, last dorsal spine 2-2 to 2*4, last 
anal 2-33 to 2-6 in length of head. 
Dorsal and ventral contou :i about equally convex ; width of body 1*95 to 2*1 
in its depth, which is 1*05 to 1*2 in the length of the head : caudal peduncle deeper 
than long, its least depth 1*8 to 2 in the depth of the body. Width of head a little less 
than its depth and 1-5 to 1*66 in its length, its upper profile from the forehead to the 
origin of the dorsal fin linear and but little acclivous. Snout short and blunt, its 
upper profile linear and rather strongly acclivous, forming an obtusely rounded 
angle with the frontal profile, its length 1-25 to 1*3, that of the flat interorbital width 
1*8 to 2 in the eye -diameter ; preorbital very narrow. Maxillary extending to below 
the hinder border of the eye, the width of its distal extremity 1*35 to 1*5 in the 
eye-diameter. Vertical limb of preopercle convex, the angle broadly rounded and 
feebly corrugated ; opercular flap pointed. 
Scales in 25 transverse series between the angle of the opercle and the root of 
the caudal, in 11 series in an oblique row from the vent forward to the dorsal ridge, 
2 of which are above the lateral line. Lateral line tubes 19 or 20 in the upper line, 10 
to 12 in the lower. Cheek-scales in 3 series. 
D. x* or xi 7 ; A. iii 8 ; P. 20 or 21. Dorsal fin originating above the base of the 
pectoral ; first spine short, 2-65 in the last, which is 1-4 to 1-5 in the fifth and longest 
ray ; rayed fin reaching beyond the base of the caudal. Anal originating below the 
seventh or eighth dorsal spine, its first spine 2*1 to 2*2 in the last, which is 1*06 to 1*85 
in the fifth ray ; soft portion similar to but higher than the dorsal rays, and 
just reaching to the caudal. Pectoral 1*3 to 1*4 in the length of the head, scarcely 
extending to above the vent. Ventral as long as or a little longer than the head, 
reaching to the second anal spine. 
Gill-rakers 3 + 10, the longest 2*7 in the eye-diameter and as long as the 
gill -fringes. 
Purplish brown, some of the scales occasionally gray usually with a dark 
central spot ; sides and lower surface of head (except the anterior branchiostegals 
* In one example the first short spine is missing. 
