PISCES THORACICI. SPARUS. 
71 
SPARUS, 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
Dentes incisores vel laniarii robusti; molares 
obtusiusculi, conferti. Labia duplicata. 
Membrana branchialis radiis quinque. 
Corpus compressum. Linea lateralis postice 
curvata. Pinna pectorales rotundatce. 
The canine, or cutting teeth, strong, the 
grinders bluntish, and thick set. The 
lips double. The branchial membrane 
has five rays. The opercula squamous. 
The body compressed ; the lateral line 
curved behind. The pectoral fins 
rounded* 
No. LXXXIX. 
Sparus cauda bilobata; spinis dorsalibus decern; corpore cinereo. 
The Sparus with a tail unequally bifid; ten dorsal spines; the body of a whitish gray 
colour. 
Called by the Natives Karwa. 
IQ J_ _3_ 
B. vi. D. 20. P. 13. V. 6. A. 12. C. 20. 
The body oblong-ovate, compressed, smooth ; scales large, roundish, ciliate, imbricate, tenacious. 
The head very large, compressed, declivous, face smooth without scales; the front convex, steep; the mouth 
low, terminal, transverse, wide; lips thickish. Jaws extractile, upper somewhat longer than the under. Teeth 
dissimilar, canine and grinders, and behind the latter, both above and below are several close rows of very small 
teeth. The tongue short, round, obtuse, smooth, bridled. The palate wide, smooth. Eyes middle, large, flat. 
Nostrils double, equidistant from the orbit and point of the rostrum; the posterior oval, the anterior round: 
both small. The opercula consist of two laminae and an appearance of a third; the anterior angular, the 
posterior rounded and squamous. The branchial membrane exposed ; the aperture large, arched. 
The trunk. The back arched, carinate, the breast and abdomen flat; the sides and tail compressed. Branchiae 
tuberculate. Lateral line supreme, bending at first very gently, runs afterwards straight to the middle of the 
caudal fin. The anus remote, or nearer the tail than the head. 
The fins. The dorsal consists of ten spinous rays, arched, reclining in a groove, and of ten ramous, assurgent 
rays; the pectoral low, acuminate above, long; the ventral also in a groove, long, setaceous; the anal assurgent; 
the caudal bilobate, the upper lobe longest. 
Colour a bluish gray, growing lighter towards the belly; the breast and belly white: some faint bluish streaks 
on the head. The dorsal, pectoral, and caudal fins have a yellowish cast; the ventral and anal a darkish blue: 
the inside of the mouth is of a yellowish red. 
Length of the subject described one foot, including the tail. 
REMARKS. 
In younger and smaller subjects, the edge of the dorsal and anal fins is of a deep orange; while the caudal 
and other fins are of a darkish red. 
* The generic character of the pectoral fins, in the Sparus, according to Gouan, is acuminata, which agrees better to all the species 
following, than the rotundatce of Linnaeus. 
