CO129-538-1 Hong Kong University 31-12-1931 - 6-8-1932 — Page 93

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HENRY W. FOWLER

Caecula cheni new species.

Sphagebranchus longipinnis (not Kner and Steindachner) Chen, Bull. Biol. Dep. Sun Yat-sen Univ., vol. 1, No. 1, 1929, p. 25, fig. 12 (anterior body), fig. 12a (dentition), fig. 12b (head below) (Ling Sui).

Diagnosis. Differs from Caecula longipinna Kner and Steindachner (Sitz. Akad. Wiss. Wien., vol. 54, pt. 1, 1866, p. 390, pl. 5, fig. 14, Samoa) in the origin of the dorsal fin beginning over the gill opening (in C. longipinna the dorsal origin begins nearer the snout tip than the gill open- ing). Chen's specimen No. 2427 from Ling Sui, September 8, 1928, obtain- ed by S. T. Woo and 538 mm. may be taken as the type.

His ample description and figures will then serve to establish the species.

(For Johnson Chen, in slight appreciation of his excellent review of the Apodal Fishes of Kwangtung).

Family Ratabouridae.

Body cylindrical. Snout short. Eye small or nearly concealed under skin of head. Mouth cleft reaches below or behind hind edge of eye. Tongue not free. Teeth conic, recurved, uniserial in jaws and on vomer. Front nostrils each in tube near snout end. Hind nostrils each partly tubular opening near middle of front edge of eye. Gill openings narrow, inferior or partly inferior slits. Heart short space behind gills. No scales. Dorsal and anal confined to tail, confluent with caudal, both low or reduced to rudimentary fold containing visible rays only at terminus. Pectorals short, vestigial or absent.

Small cels of the eastern Indo Pacific and West Indies. They are marine or found in brackish water, buried in the mud, sand or gravel of the bottom, near shore, on reefs or in the mouths of rivers.

RATABOURA Gray.

Rataboura Gray, Zool. Miscellany, February 19, 1831, p. 9. Type Muraena rataboura Buchanan-Hamilton, tautotypic,

Body more or less slender, Mouth small. Tail much shorter than

rest of body, usually blunt and with fin at top.

short tails.

Small eels of tropical seas, often worm like and noted for their very

Synopsis of Species.

a'. Dorsal and anal anteriorly and posteriorly with visible rays, lower in

middle of fins.

b'. Pectorals vestigial; distance of dorsal from anal more than half

of head.

linearis.

b2. Pectoral 7 in head; distance of dorsal from anal much less than

half head length.

raitaborna.

a2. Dorsal and anal reduced to a low fold, with few feeble rays at extreme

tip of tail only.

A Synopsis of the Fishes of China

Rataboura linearis (Gray). Figure 10.

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Moringua linearis Gray, Zool. Miscellany, 1831, p. 9. India; Illustr. Indian Zool. Hardwicke, vol. 1, 1830-32, pl. 95, fig. 3.

Moringua lumbricoidea Richardson, Voy. Sulphur, Ichth., 1844, P. 113, pl. 56, figs. 7-11. No locality; Ichth. China Japan, 1846, p. 314 (China). -Günther, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus., vol. 8, 1870, p. 91 (type).--Sauvage, Bull. Soc. Philomath., Paris, ser. 7, vol. 5, 1881, p. 107 (Swatow).-Rutter, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1897, p. 62 (compiled).

Moringau michrochir Chen, Bull. Biol. Dep. Sun Yat-sen Univ., vol. 1, No. 1, 1929, p. 28 (copied) (error).

Figure 10.

H.W.F

Rataboura linearis (Gray),

to 122, 71⁄2 in trunk; tail twice head Mouth cleft 4 in head, reaches hind eye to head length behind ventral, fin low. Pectoral very short, (Günther, Weber

Depth 44 to 48; head 10 and trunk. Eye 12, twice snout. edge. Dorsal origin as space equal Anal origin space equal to of head behind ventral. broad rudiment. Colour uniform. Length to 280 mm. and Beaufort).

China, Swatow (Sumatra, Amboyna, Polynesia). As suggested by Günther there is little doubt but that Gray's fish is the present species.

Rataboure raitaborna (Buchanan-Hamilton).

Muraena raitaborna Buchanan-Hamilton, Fishes of Ganges, 1822, pp. 25, 364. Ganges River.

Moringua macrochir Chen, Bull. Biolog. Dep. Sun Yat-sen Univ., vol. 1, No. 1, 1929, p. 28, fig. 14 (dentition) (Ying Khou).

Depth 40; head 9 1/5, 5 2/5 in trunk; tail 2 in head and trunk. Eye 20, less than snout, Mouth cleft in head, reaches hind eye edge. Dorsal and anal low, interrupted in middle; space from dorsal origin to ventral half

The Hong Kong Naturalist.

May 1932.

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