FISHES OF HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
533 
Genus OPHICEPHALUS Bloch. 
Ventral fins present; pyloric appendages 2; fine teeth in the jaws, on the vomer and the palatine 
■l?ones, sometimes intermixed with larger ones. 
Fresh waters of the East Indies; one species introduced into the Hawaiian Islands. 
Ophicephalus striatus Bloch. 
Head 3 in length; depth 4.5; eye 8.5 in head; snout 5.9; D 42; A. 29; scales 7-59-12. 
Body oblong, compressed posteriorly; head long, rather pointed; profile concurrent over eyes; 
mouth slightly oblique; lower jaw thick, slightly projecting; small teeth on outer edge of jaws; larger 
canine-like teeth in a single row and set wide apart, on inner side of each jaw; vomer with small teeth; 
dorsal long, its anterior base slightly behind base of pectorals, length of rays increasing iiosteriorly ; 
caudal rounded; anal similar to dorsal, but not so long; tips of pectoral and vent.rals nearly on same 
line; lateral line descending, one row of scales just posterior to vent. 
Color in alcohol, dark brownish or blackish above, becoming marbled and mottled with whitish 
on side; top of head dark grayish; side of head lighter, with a broad gray bar from eye to opercular 
opening, bounded above and below by somewhat narrower black bars; under parts of head mottled 
with white and dark; middle of side with an irregular light longitudinal line, below which is a series 
of large, irregular black spots; lower part of side and belly pale, with irregular oblong black markings; 
caudal peduncle with a narrow black bar at base of caudal fin; vertical fins mottled with white and 
grayish; other fins pale. 
This description from a specimen (No. 03585) 13 inches long, taken at Honolulu, where the species 
was introduced doubtless from Borneo. 
Our collection from Honolulu contains 10 specimens, ranging in length from 6.2 to 10.5 inches. 
Ophicephalus striatus Bloch., Ichthyologie, VII, 141, 1793, Malabar. 
Ophicephalus wraW LacOpOcle, Hist. Nat. Poiss., Ill, 552, 1801, Coromandel; Tranquebar. 
Ophiocephalus chena Hamilton-Buchanan, Fishes of the Ganges, 62, 367, 1822, Goyalpara, India. 
