Ichthyographia chinae borealis

[ ... ]

b) Abdominales

Ophicephalus Cuv. Bl.

13. Ophicephalus pekinensis ¹

Caput oblongum depressum, planisculum, squamosum, nigrum; rictus amplus, maxilla superiore protractili parvulis dentibus conferis armata, inferiore autem longiore, aucumitoto margine palati anteriore dentibus maxilae inferioris instar instructis. Ossa pharyngae et arcus branchiales dentati. Lingua libera, laevis. Ossa mastoidea, occiput et rostrum poris punctata. Oculi fusci, apici admoti. Opercula branchialia squamosa, biphylla, postrorsum rotundata. Apertura branchialis ampla; membrana branchiostega 5-radiata. - Corpus angustum, antrorsum ex terete compressiusculum, postrorsum fere taenioideum, supra viridi-nigrum, ad latera griseum maculis nigris, ovalibus, latis, duabus seriebus dispositis obtectum, abdomen griseum immaculatum. Squamae exiguae, solidae, serpentinae, modo heyagonae, modo tetragonae. Pinnae nigricantes, molles, nigromaculatae; abdominales antrorsum admotae; dorsalis 50-radiata, pectorales inter et abdominales proveniens, dorsi longitudine; analis abdominales pone orta, et terminata dorsali opposita; caudalis integra, ovalis. Linea lateralis antrorsum dorso propinqua, postrorsum media et recta. Vesica aerea ad caudam producta, biloba. Caro duriuscula; integumenta crassa.

Habitat in aquis prope tian-jin. Praedatur Septembre et Octobre. Secundum ben-tsa-han-mu piscis in omnibus Chinae fluviis praecipue in provincia su-chou abundat.

O. pekinensis by St. Basilewski. Today, science considers it as a synonym for C. argus. This drawing is the first known of C. argus as far as snakeheads.org knows

Footnotes

¹ This name is considered to be a synonyme for Channa argus (Cantor, 1842) . [snakeheads.org] Back

Acknowledgement and Source(s)

This passage was originally published under the above title in: Nouveaux memoires de la Societé Imperiale de Naturalistes de Moscou . Vol. 10, pp. 215-263, 1855.