Note 433 — PART I.

The fish, Plate XII. fig. 2. has, upon a slight view, so much the appearance of an eel, and, except its not being so fat, eats so like that fish, that though it is much oftener brought to the tables of the Europeans at Aleppo than any other fish found in the river Coic, it has never been suspected of being any ways different from the common eel; and yet, upon examination, it will be found of quite another genus.

The head is long and small: the extremity of the upper jaw runs out to a narrow point, like the bill of a bird; on each side of which, a little distant from the extreme point, are two tubuli, or processes. As in the common eel there are two fins at the gills, from the occiput, all along the ridge of the back, small prickles are placed at little distances, resembling the teeth of a saw. These terminate at the origin of a membranaceous fin, rising about four inches from the tail, and is continued (as in the eel) along the lower part of the belly to the anus; at which place are also found two or three prickles. The colour of the head and back is blackish, variegated with dark yellow spots; the lower belly white, changing gradually into a yellowish cast. The fin of the lower belly, near to the anus, is yellow; the other half spotted with black. The length of the fish described was eleven inches.