943 . 
Body with very short trunk and long slender tapering tail. 
Head large, soft, cavernous, robust. Snout abrupt, truncate, para¬ 
bolic. Eye very large, orbital edge forming part of upper profile 
of head. Mouth wide, lateral. Mandibular barbel long. Bones of 
head membranaceous. Scales thin, deciduous, with fine short spines. 
Head naked, also preventral region of abdomen partly or entirely so. 
t . 
/ 
First dorsal broad, advanced far forward over pectoral base, spine 
smooth. Second dorsal and anal origins nearly opposite, well sepa¬ 
rated from end of first dorsal. Pecotral rather narrow, branched 
/ • - t 
rays 9 to 15. 
Shall, fragile species, tropical and usually less than 300 mm 
long. Known chiefly by the soft thin bone of the large head. 
