230 
THE FISHES OF MALABAK. 
Genus SAEDINELLA, Val. 
Branch iostegals, six. Body elongated and in most species the abdomen trenchant and toothed. Cleft 
of mouth small, upper jaw the shortest. One dorsal, medial: ventral opposite, and anal some distance 
posterior to the dorsal. Teeth on the palatine and pterygoid hones as well as on the tongue : none on the 
jaws or on the vomer. Scales large or of moderate size. Air vessel long. 
Sardinella Neohowii. 
Sardinella Neohowii, Guv. & Val. xx. p. 274. 
Charlay, Mai. Oil Sardine. 
B. vi. D. 17. P. 17. Y. 9. A. 16. C. 17. L. 1. 45. L. tr. 13. 
Length of head of pectoral it, of base of dorsal of base of anal of caudal ]■ of total 
length. Height of head - G , of body 1, of dorsal of the total length. 
Eyes—Eather close to upper profile. Each have an anterior and posterior rather broad 
adipose membrane : diameter ^ of length of head, 1 diameter apart, and a little more than 1 dia¬ 
meter from end of snout. 
Body rather elongated, back broad, sides slightly compressed, abdominal surface rather 
rounded. Profile of back convex, the base of the dorsal being situated on the most superior part: 
abdominal profile not so convex as that of the back. 
Mouth anterior, lower jaw the longest, the upper jaw slightly notched in its centre, and convex 
along its lower margin : lower jaw compressed and widest posteriorly. Maxilla widened by the 
addition of two supplementary bones, its posterior extremity extends to under the orbit. Opercle 
half as wide as high, its upper margin nearly straight, its posterior rather concave in its upper 
third, slightly convex in its lower third. Subopercle nearly square, one third as high as opercle. 
Preopercle wide, its posterior margin rather oblique, angle produced and rounded, lower limb hori¬ 
zontal. Interopercle large. Gill openings wide. Branchiostegous membrane partially uncovered. 
Teeth—None apparent in the jaws, or on the vomer, but fine ones on the tongue, the palate, 
and the pterygoids. 
Fins—Pectoral arises close to, and just beneath the posterior angle of the subopercle: the 
dorsal rather nearer to the snout than it does to the base of the caudal, the seventh ray being 
in about the centre of the body: ventral under the posterior third of the dorsal: and the anal 
in the posterior third of the body. First dorsal rays short, the third the highest, the upper 
margin of the fin concave, its last ray very short. Pectoral pointed. Ventral abdominal, and 
triangular, first ray undivided. Anal highest anteriorly, its lower margin concave. Caudal lobed 
in its posterior half, its base wide. 
Scales—Longest diameter vertical: none on the head. 
Colours—Green with golden reflections, abdomen silvery shot with purple. Head of the same 
colour as the body with a large greenish gold spot on the upper margin of the opercle and pre¬ 
opercle. Dorsal sea green. Caudal stained with green. The other fins transparent. 
Arrives in some years in enormous numbers, and from it fish oil is prepared, when Ditssumier 
was in Malabar, probably about 1827, he observed that those not eaten were used for manuring 
the fields as they were too fat to salt well; at the present time, mostly from this species, an' average 
of upwards of seven thousand pounds worth of fish oil is annually exported from Malabar. But 
the oil sardine is very capricious as to its arrival and departure, thus in 1855-56 from the port of 
