30 
PISCES APODES. TRICPIIURUS. 
TRICPIIURUS. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
Caput porrectum; operculis lateralibus; 
dentes ens formes, apice se?nisaggittati : 
primores majores. Membranci branchios- 
tega radiis vii. Corpus compresso-ensi- 
forme. Cauda subulata , aptera. 
The head elongated ; the opercula lateral; 
the teeth ensiform, half bearded at the 
point; the fore teeth largest. Seven 
rays in the branchial membrane. The 
body compressed, sword-form ; the tail 
awl-form, without fin. 
No. XLI. 
Trici-iiurus capite oblongo, nucha carinata; linea laterali ab ventre ad caudam infima, sub- 
curva ; aculei infra caudam loco pinnee analis. 
The Trichiurus, with an oblong head, carinated behind ; the lateral line from the anus 
to its end close to the belly, and a little curve ; a row of small prickles along the under 
part of the tail, in the place of an anal fin. 
Trichiurus Lepturus, Linn. S. JV. p. 429. 
Called by the Natives Sawala. 
B. vii. D. 120. P. ll. V. 0. A. 0. C. 0. 
The body long, much compressed, thin, without scales, and terminates in a very small, subulate tail. 
The head oblong, compressed, projecting, sharp, the hind part carinate, the front declivous, depressed. The 
mouth large, straight, without lips; the under jaw sharp, and considerably longer than the upper. Teeth 
regularly, but not thick set, dissimilar, the larger curve, long, half bearded; the smaller straight, and sharp: all 
firmly fixed. The tongue lanceolate, smooth, free. The palate narrow, smooth. 
The eyes lateral, high, round, large, much nearer the rostrum than the posterior edge of the opercula. 
Nostrils solitary, round, near the orbit. Branchial opercula striate, two-leaved, acuminate. Membrane covered; 
aperture large, lateral and gular. 
The trunk. The back very narrow, sub-carinate, almost straight; the throat and abdomen hardly convex ; 
the sides plane or compressed; the under part of the tail straight, carinate, set with very small prickles, to near 
its end, when it becomes extremely slender. 
The lateral line, bending from the upper part of the operculum to near the anus, runs afterwards low, and 
parallel to the curve of the belly and under part of the tail. The anus small, two inches behind the branchial 
aperture. 
The jins. The only fins are the dorsal and pectoral; the first rising from the hind head, is continued to 
within an inch of the point of the tail, it is narrow and nearly of equal breadth, till toward its end: the pectoral 
is situated low, small, falcate. 
