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PISCES ABDOMINALES. FISTULARIA. 
FISTULARIA. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
Caput: rostrum cylindricum, apice maxillo- 
surn. Membrana branchioslega radiisv ii. 
The rostrum cylindrical, with maxillae at 
the apex; the branchial membrane con¬ 
sists of seven rays. 
No. CLXXIII. 
Eistularia cauda bifida , in setam longam terminante ; pinna dorsali remotissima. 
The Fistularia with a bifid tail, terminating in a long seta ; the dorsal fin very distant 
from the head. 
Fistularia tabacaria Linn. S. JV. p. 5 15. 
Called by the Natives Goorum. 
B. v. D. 14. P. 15. V. 6. A. 13. C. 16. 
The head naked, depressed, and chanelled above, a little compressed on the sides, and projecting into a long 
tubular rostrum, at the extremity of which is placed the mouth. The rostrum two inches and a half long, not 
quite round, but striated or grooved above and below, and armed on the sides, two-thirds of its length, with a 
row of small plickles bent forwards. The extremities of this rostrum form the jaws ; the under longer than 
the upper, both tuberculate at the points, and furnished with minute retroflex teeth, not close, but regular. The 
mouth transverse, narrow, yet by the free motion of the lower jaw it can enlarge itself considerably. The 
tongue small, fixed, and, as well as the palate, feels rough to the finger. Eyes supreme, large, oval, prominent; 
the edges of the orbit striate, angular. Nostrils double, nearly of equal size, the posterior on the edge, the 
anterior within a small furrow, surrounded with minute prickles. The branchial operculum one oblong lamina; 
the branchial membrane half covered; the aperture gular and long. 
The trunk. The back depressed, almost straight to the dorsal fin, from which it is carinate; the abdomen 
and breast flat; the hinder part of the trunk somewhat angular. The branchiae four-leaved, tuberculate. The 
lateral line middle, straight, carinate towards the end. The anus remote. 
The fins. The dorsal single, remarkably remote, low, assurgent; pectoral low, pointed above; the ventral 
very small, much nearer the head than the tail; the anal opposite to the dorsal, and nearly of the same shape 
and size; the caudal bifid, with a setaceous tail, three inches long. 
The colour omitted to be set down when the fish was recent. 
Inches. Lines. 
The length of the subject described, from the point of the rostrum to the division of the caudal fin q o 
From the point of the rostrum to the eyes - 
hind head to the dorsal fin - - 3 2 
pectoral to the anal fin - -- -- -- -- - - 28 
dorsal fin to the caudal - 
