Goramy,

Goramy, or GOURAMI (Osphromenus olfax), a fish of the family Anabasidae or Labyrinthichidae, a native of the Eastern Archipelago, highly esteemed for the table, and introduced on that account into India, Mauritius, Cayenne, and the French West India Islands. Its form is deep in proportion to its length, the head small, and terminating in a rather sharp short snout, the mouth small, the tail rounded, the dorsal and anal fins having numerous rather short spines, the first ray of the ventral fins extending into a very long filament; it attains the size of a large turbot. It is sometimes kept in large jars by the Dutch residents in Java, and fed on water-plants. It was introduced into Mauritius about the middle of the 18th century, and soon spread from the tanks in which it was at first kept into the streams, multiplying abundantly. The goramy is interesting also on other accounts. It is one of the nest-building fishes, and at the breeding season forms its nest by entangling the stems and leaves of aquatic grasses. Both the male and female watch the nest for a month or more with careful vigilance, and violently drive away every other fish which approaches, till the spawn is hatched, afterwards affording a similar parental protection to the young fry.