The Philippine journal of science. [Vol. 67, no. 1]

STUDIES ON THE ANATOMY OF THE BAftOS, CHANOS
CHANOS (FORSKAL), I
THE SKELETAL SYSTEM
By DIOSCORO S. RABOR
Of the Fish and Game Administration, Bureau of Science, Manila
TEN PLATES AND ONE TEXT FIGURE
The milkfish, Chanos chanos (Forskal), locally known as
bangos, is the most common food fish in the Philippine Islands,
where its culture is one of the most important phases of the
fishing industry. Strangely enough very little is known about
its anatomy. The present paper is a study on the skeletal system of the species.
Ridewood(5) in his work on the osteology of the skull of
clupeoid fishes wrote that the accessory branchial organ of Chanos has been briefly alluded to by Miiller in his work "Bau und
Grenzen der Ganoiden"1 and described and figured by Hyrtl,
although its relation to the rest of the skeletal parts were not
shown.2
Ridewood's work on the osteology of the skull of Chanos salmoneus describes briefly, with drawings, the most important
features of this fish in contrast to those of the other members of
the clupeoid group.
In the present work 7 specimens, taken from fishponds, and
ranging in length from 30 to 35 centimeters, and one marine
specimen, 50 centimeters long, were dissected in detail for the
study of the different parts of the skeletal system. In addition,
11 pond-raised specimens were examined for the vertebral skeleton. In this study the number of abdominal and caudal vertebre, ribs, and fin rays were noted.
Ridewood's(5) system of grouping the different elements of
the skull and visceral skeleton into series or sets was followed
in the present work. The grouping is rather artificial in some
respects, but it has been found very convenient in the discussion of relationship between the different bones.
Berlin (1846) 74, 76.
Denkschr. Akad. Wiss. Wien 21 (1863) 1-10, pi. 1.
24117 2 851