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HENRY W. FOWLER
Genus ATHERINA Linnaeus.
Silversides.
Atherina Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, pt. 1, 1758, p. 315. Type Atherina hepsetus Linnaeus, monotypic.
Body elongate, partly cylindrical or feebly compressed, belly rounded. Head well compressed, rather attenuated. Mouth oblique, short. Mandible small, weak. Teeth small, conic, in jaws, on vomer and palatines. Vertebrae 43 to 56. Scales cycloid, moderate to rather large, extend on parts of head. Anal spines feeble, 5 to 9. Soft dorsal and anal opposite, similar. Pectoral short. Ventral inserted well behind pectoral base.
Widely distributed in the warm seas of the globe.
Synopsis of the Species.
a'. Eye large, 22 to 23/5 in head from snout tip. a2. Eye smaller, 3 in head.
forskalii. bleekeri.
Atherina forskalii Rüppell.
Figure 54.
H.W.F
Figure 54. Atherina forskalii Rüppell.
Atherina forskalii Rüppell, Neue Wirbelth., Fische, 1835, p. 132, pl. 33, fig. 1. Red Sea.--Seale, Philippine Journ. Sci., vol. 9, 1914, p. 60 (Hong Kong). Fowler, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1929, p. 603 (Hong Kong). Chu, Biol. Bull. St. John's Univ., No. 1, January 1931, p. 103 (reference).
Snout 34/5 to 44 n head with interorbital. Lower
Depth 47/10 to 62/5; head 4 to 5. from snout tip; eye 21/5 to 27/10, subequal gill rakers 20. Scales 42 to 45, transversely 6. Dorsal V-11, 8; Anal 11, 11 to 13; pectoral 1, 13 to 1, 15; ventral I, 5. Broad silvery lateral band, upper part with indistinct dark band. Above scales with broad brown borders and brown points. Fins dusky, usually more pronounced on hind border of caudal. Upper half of pectoral often with blackish points. Head more or less blackish, as also ventral border of lower jaw. Length 130 mm.
(Weber and Beaufort.)
Hong Kong (Red Sea, Zanzibar, Madagascar, Mauritius, Andamans, Nicobars, Malaya, East Indies, Tonkin, Philippines).
The Hong Kong Naturalist.
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