THE FISHES OF MALABAR. 
Ill 
emerald green spots. Fins dusky, upper third of dorsal brownish grey. Eyes metallic emerald 
green. After death many of the spots disappear. 
Grows to five inches in length. Is captured in the sea, and also in the mouths of the rivers. 
Is not uncommon. 
Habitat—Seas of India. 
* Gobius criniger. 
Gobius criniger, Cuv. & Val. xii. p. 82 ; Cantor , Catal. p. 184 ; Gunther , Catal. iii. 
p. 29. 
B. v. D. 6 | 1 P.17. Y. i A. 1 C. 13. L. 1. 34. 
Length of head \ of the total length. Height of body of head of first dorsal |, of second 
dorsal ^ of the total length. 
Eyes—Diameter x of length of head, \ a diameter apart, 1 diameter from end of snout. 
Teeth—Minute, velvety, and of nearly equal length. 
Fins—The second ray of the anterior dorsal is the longest, and terminates in a filament; its 
length is nearly three quarters of the total length. Nine rows of scales between the second dorsal 
and anal fins. Caudal rounded. 
Scales—None on head or neck : the rest of the body covered with large ctenoid and faintly 
striated ones. 
Colours —“ Pale ochreous, with faint silvery lustre; abdomen whitish; head and upper jaw 
black ; three round black spots on the cheeks; a fourth larger at posterior angle of the orbit; a 
similar on the opercle; on the sides three large rounded black spots: the anterior behind the 
pectoral fin, spreading on the back; the second below the posterior part of the second dorsal, and 
the third at the root of the tail. Between the spots are several smaller, irregular black marks. The 
fin membranes whitish, that of the ventral minutely dotted with black. That of the two dorsals 
and the caudal with large black spots : the free margin of the caudal and anal black.”— Cantor. 
Grows to five inches in length. 
Habitat—Seas of India, Malaysia, North-west coast of Australia, and New Guinea. 
Gobius Malabaricus. Plate VII. f. 2. 
Gobius Malabaricus, Day , Proc. Zool. Soc. 1865. p. 27. 
B. iv. D. 6 | X V P. 13. Y. 4. A. T V C. 13. L. 1. 50. L. tr. 10. 
Length of head of pectoral -J, of caudal of base of first dorsal of base of second 
dorsal of base of anal | of total length. Height of head jt, of body of first dorsal f, of second 
dorsal of ventral of anal of total length. 
Eyes—Diameter of length of head, 1 diameter from end of snout, \ a diameter apart. 
Snout obtuse, its upper profile descending abruptly, from it to the first dorsal there is only a 
slight rise. Maxilla extends backwards as far as the anterior third of orbit. A moderately strong- 
prominent crest at the nape. The bony ridge between the orbits narrow, with a low crest along 
its centre. Orbits very closely approximating at their upper surface : a well developed projecting 
angle at their anterior and posterior margins, the anterior the strongest. A bony ring around 
nasal apertures. 
Teeth — Conical: an external row in upper jaw the largest. Smaller but conical in lower jaw. 
