10 
PISCES THORACICI. SPARES. 
still paler, with a faint greenish cast on the back; the sides, in younger subjects, powdered with very small 
black dots. The belly a dull pearl. The first dorsal fin light colour, the second of the colour of the body: 
both have regular rows of black spots on the anterior edges of the spines. The pectoral, ventral, anal, and 
caudal fins have a very slight yellowish cast. 
The colour in older subjects is lighter; the body becomes less transparent, and the spots on the fins are 
often absent. 
The length, fourteen inches. 
REMARKS. 
This, known to the English under the name of Whiting, is rather a more delicate fish, and certainly a different 
genus. It is placed doubtfully under the present genus; and, as well as some of the following subjects, may 
perhaps belong more properly to the genus Sciaena. 
They are caught chiefly near the mouth of the river. The most common size is under that of the fish 
described : but they are sometimes brought of twenty inches. 
In figure it has some resemblance to the Perea Zingel. * 
No. CXIV. 
Spar us? cauda lunata ; spinis quinque dorsalibus ; corpore sub-dolabriforme, pinnis squa- 
mosis. 
The Sparus with a lunate tail; five dorsal spines; the body somewhat of a hatchet form; 
the fins squamous. 
Called by the Natives Mangula Kutti. 
5 i 3 
B. vii. D. 15. P. 18. V. 6. A. 42. C. 19. 
The body. The scales rising so high on the dorsal and anal fins, contribute to give the fish an unusual form. 
The scales long, close, imbricate, above the line ciliate. 
The head short, compressed, rostrum obtuse. Mouth large, oblique, without lips. Jaws extractile, equal, 
the upper emarginate. Teeth very small, numerous, linear, sharp. Tongue awl-shape. Palate wide, smooth. 
Eyes enormously large, orbicular. Nostrils double, small, middle between the orbit and rostrum. 
The first lamina of the opercula squamous, the second striate and acuminate; the branchial membrane half 
exposed when the mouth is shut; the aperture large, lateral, and gular. 
The trunk. The back at first slightly arched, afterwards straight; the breast and belly carinate, but pro¬ 
minent; the sides gradually compressed, the posterior part of the trunk spreads in a singular manner, forming 
an irregular angle, the lower side carinate. The branchiae consist of four leaves, the exterior pectinate, the 
other tuberculate. The lateral line supreme, conspicuous, rises in a low arch, from the edge of the opercula, 
then runs straight from the pectoral fin, parallel to the back. Anus nearer the head than the tail. 
The Jins. The dorsal on the middle of the back, small, assurgent in front, behind somewhat crescent-form; 
the pectoral nearly middle, acuminate at top; the ventral of the same form, but very small; anal long, rising 
a little behind the anus, occupies the whole inferior side of the tail, assurgent (like the dorsal) in front, then 
declining, but not falcate; the caudal Emulate fin remains extended after death. 
* Bloch, Tab. 106, 
