118 
THE FISHES OF MALABAR. 
Mouth directed upwards, its gape wide: lower jaw the longest, with some barbels on it. 
Each nostril has a small aperture near the orbit. 
Teeth—A band of villiform ones posteriorly and of curved conical ones externally. 
Fins—Dorsal and anal united with the caudal, and enveloped in a thick skin. Ventrals 
united. 
Colours—Head and back of a brownish ochre. Sides dullish red, becoming dirty whitish 
with a red tinge on the abdomen. All the fins of a dirty reddish tint. 
Grows to one foot two inches in length. Is employed as food. 
Habitat—Seas and estuaries of India, Malaysia, and China. 
Genus TBYPAUCHEN, Cuv. and Val. 
Brancliiostegals, four. Body elongated, head moderately compressed, a deep cavity above opercle not 
communicating with the branchial. Infraorbital bones do not articulate with the preopercle. Eyes 
minute. One dorsal, which as well as the anal are continuous with the caudal. Ventrals united. Teeth 
without canines. Scales minute. 
Trypauchen vagina. 
Gobius vagina, Bl. Selin, p. 73, no. 20. 
Gobioides ruber, Ram. Buck. pp. 38, 365. 
Trypauchen vagina, Cuv. & Val. xii. p. 153, pi. 351 ; Cantor, Catal. p. 190; Gunther , 
Catal. iii. p. 137. 
g, of base of anal \ of total 
B.iv. D.^Snp P-25. V. \. A. C. 13. 
Length of head of pectoral yy, of caudal of base of dorsal § 
length. Height of head yy, of body yy, of dorsal of anal of ventral yy, of the total length. 
Eyes—Apparently small black points, \ length of head from snout, and about the same 
distance apart. 
Body—Elongated and compressed, the head rather wide. 
Mouth wide and oblique ; the lower jaw the longest, broad and shallow. Preopercle wide, 
the angle rounded, its horizontal limb being one third longer than its vertical. Opercle wide, and 
with radiated raised lines upon it: both it and the subopercle covered with narrow depressions, as 
is also the upper surface of the head. 
Teeth—An external row of long curved teeth in each jaw, with a row of shorter ones inter¬ 
nally. None on the palate or tongue. 
Fins—Pectoral and ventral arise on a line : dorsal opposite the posterior third of the pectoral. 
Caudal produced and pointed. 
Scales minute. 
Lateral line central. 
Colours—Dirty white, with a slightly rosy tint, the back darker, almost of a dirty brown. 
Dorsal and anal stained black in their external halves. Caudal dirty brownish black. Pectoral 
and ventral colourless. 
Not rare at Cochin, where it enters the backwaters. It grows to six inches in length. 
Habitat—Seas and estuaries of India, Malaysia, and China. 
