32 
PISCES APODES. STROMATEUS. 
The trunk. The back ass urgent, carinate, and on the ridge, before the dorsal fin, five or six spiculi under 
the skin, may be felt by the finger; the throat and abdomen declivous, ridged, the sides and tail compressed, 
the former a little convex: five spiculi between the anus and the anal fin, rather more perceptible than those 
on the back, are found just piercing the skin. 
The lateral line rising from the upper edge of the opercula, forms an arch over the pectoral fin to the end 
of the dorsal, and is then continued straight along the upper part of the tail: another line but less conspicuous 
rising with the first, runs straight to the middle of the caudal fin. The anus small, considerably nearer the 
head than the tail. 
The fins. The dorsal rising from the highest point of the back, consists at first of eleven or twelve longer 
rays, disposed in somewhat of a crescent-form, and then becoming narrow and equal, is continued along the 
declivity, to where the tail grows narrowest. The anal of the same length, rises opposite to the dorsal; the 
pectoral nearer the belly than the back, long, sharp, lanceolate, or acuminate in the middle; the caudal fin 
deeply forked. 
The colour. The back dark, with a bluish or purplish cast; the rest a silver gray; the dorsal and caudal fins 
a little lighter than the back. The anal has a very pale yellowish cast. 
The length, from the nose to the caudal fin - - - - 
Gi'eatest breadth - -- -- -- - - -6 
Length of the caudal fin -------- 
Inches. Lines. 
9 5 
2 
O 
5 
No. XLIII. 
Stromateus corpore ovato, squamoso ; pinnis pedoralibus Jalcatis. 
The Stromateus, with a squamous, ovate, body ; and falcate pectoral fins. 
Stromateus niger maxillis ccqualibus. Bloch , PI. 422. 
Called by the Natives Nala Sandawah. 
Black Pomfret of the English. 
B. vi. D. 45 . P. 19. V. 0 . A. 39. C. 22 . 
The body ovate, much compressed; scales oblong, roundish, close, smooth, tenacious. 
The head much compressed, as in the former fish, but the nose less blunt, or round; the lower part of the 
face covered with scales. The mouth small, and capable of more extension , both jaws being in some degree 
extractile, and the rostrum not projecting as in the former. The teeth numerous, but larger; the eyes pro¬ 
portionally larger also and more distant from the rostrum ; nostrils as in the former. 
The opercula ciliated as in the former, but rounder: in some parts covered with scales, and not being tied 
down- behind, leave the membrane visibly exposed. 
The trunk. The back arched, carinate; the throat, belly, and tail, also carinate, but the latter, wheie the 
dorsal and anal fins terminate, becomes very small and round ; the sides hardly convex. The two exterior 
branchial are pectinate and tuberculous, the interior tuberculous only. The lateral line gently curve, but from 
the end of the pectoral fin runs straight along the middle of the tail; and is there carinate: there is no 
appearance of a second line. The spines before the fins, in the former fish, are here wanting; and the anus is 
placed still nearer the head, on a line with the pectoral fin. 
Thej/hzs. The dorsal and anal resemble those of the former fish, in their situation, but have less of the 
