OCR Text |
Show 1902.] PLECTOGNATHOUS FISHES. 301 all parts of the head, and on the body extending nearly to the dorsal fin on the back and to the vent on the abdomen and almost as far on the sides. D. 8, A. 7, pointed, with very short bases, the length of the base of the dorsal about 3 times in its height. Caudal weakly lunate. Above, a dark brown network enclosing lighter rounded areas, sides yellow, abdomen white ; some vertical stripes on the cheeks. Dorsal with about 4 obscure cross-bands. Caudal with about 7 vertical bands most distinct in its upper lobe. Indian Ocean. Total length of the specimen described, from Celebes, 55 mm. This species is easily distinguishable from T . hypselogenion Bleeker by the colour and the much more compressed body and narrower snout, and especially by the shortness of the bases of the dorsal and anal fins. T etrodon ocel latus Linn. To the synonymy of this species Giinther has added Tetrodon fasciatus McClelland and Tetrodon bimaculatus Richardson, both of which I find to be quite distinct species, and I therefore give diagnostic descriptions of both. The specimen of Tetrodon ocellatus in the British Museum Collection, described as a variety with white annular and vermiculated markings on the back, is correctly referred to this species, as in every other character it is exactly similar to the more normal specimens, such as are figured by Richardson, Zool. Sulphur, Fishes, pi. 58. T etrodon m a c c l e l l a n d i , n . sp. Tetrodon fasciatus McClell. Calc. Journ. Nat. Hist. iv. 1844, p. 412, pi. xxi. An indistinct lateral fold on the caudal peduncle. Nasal papilla rather short, with 2 nostrils. Body considerably deeper than broad; the length of head about 3 times in the total length ; snout wider than long, its length about 2| times in the length of head, eye-diameter 6 -8 times, interorbital width 2| (adult) to 3| (young) times, and 2|-3| times as wide as the ethmoid. Jaws subequal in height, without distinct ridges at the sides of the median groove, with slightly concave cutting-edges. Spines very small, close-set, extending from between the nostrils to the base of the dorsal on the back, and from below the level of the eye to the vent on the abdomen, these groups being connected by two bands of spines (sometimes incomplete), behind the eye and behind the pectoral. D. 17-19. A. 15-17, pointed, subequal in height, the longest ray more than half the length of head; caudal truncate. In the young, alternate broad and narrow light cross-bands on the head and back in front of the dorsal, about 6 or 7 in number; the last dark band extending back horizontally on the caudal peduncle. During growth the light bands break up into spots and finnllv disappear. At all ages a dark ocellated spot at the |