THE FISHES OF MALABAR. 
161 
Scales—Deciduous. 
Lateral line—Follows the curve of the back. 
Colours—Silvery with lilac reflections ; dorsal, caudal, and anal fins pale yellow; dorsal 
spines, rays, and membrane, minutely dotted with brown, their upper margins black: caudal with 
a broad blackish margin : ventrals and pectorals white. Iris silvery, or pale golden. 
Grows to seven inches in length. Is considered good eating : the young are dried at 
Penang and used for food. 
Habitat—Seas of India and Malaysia. 
Fam. CHROMIDES, Mull. 
Genus ETKOPLUS, Guv. and Val. 
Branchiostegals, six: pseudobranchise absent. Body oblong, elevated, and compressed. Eyes lateral. 
Cleft of mouth short. Teeth in one or two rows, compressed and lobate, none on palate. One dorsal fin 
with a developed spinous portion: anal spines also numerous. Ventral thoracic with one spine and five 
rays. The inferior pharyngeal bones triangular with a median suture, Anterior prominences of branchial 
arches few, short, conical, and hard. Scales of moderate size, ctenoid. Lateral line interrupted. Air 
bladder present. Pyloric appendages none. Stomach with a csecal appendage. 
\ 
Etroplus Suratensis. 
Ch^etodon Suratensis, Bloch , t. 217. 
Ch^etodon caris, Ham. Buck. pp. 125, 372. 
Etroplus meleagris, Cuv. & Val. v. p. 486. 
Etroplus maculatus, Jerdon , Madras Journ. xv. p. 142. 
Etroplus Suratensis, Gunther , Catal. iv. p. 266. 
B. vi. D. 18 f 5 9 . P.17. V. i. A. if. C. 16. L. 1. 45. L. tr. 21. 
Length of head pectoral if, base of dorsal a little above base of anal f, of caudal \ of 
total length. Height of head f, of body nearly of hard dorsal G, of soft dorsal r J, of anal 
spines jL, of anal rays it, of ventral of total length. 
Eyes—High, not far from the profile. Diameter f length of head, 2 diameters from end of 
snout, and If diameters apart. 
Mouth oval, very compressed, and situated below the centre of the body. Profile rises 
abruptly to the base of the dorsal, but is rather concave between the snout and the upper margin 
of the orbit. Lower profile not quite so rounded as the upper. 
Lower jaw slightly the longest. Maxilla extends more than half way to the orbit. Preopercle 
oblique and entire. Opercle entire. Shoulder bones entire. Nostrils situated about midway 
between the eye and the snout. 
Teeth—In two rows in each jaw, compressed, and sharp in the centre, with a small lobe on 
each side; no teeth on the palate. 
Fins—Pectoral arises close behind the central line of the opercle ; the commencement of the 
dorsal fin is in a line above it: the ventral is beneath the fourth dorsal spine, and there is a very 
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