A possibility is that in the past you discriminated this species as P. cantonensis Osbeck.
When Murdy (1989) recognized this name as invalid (pre-Linnean) and described it as a synonym of P. modestus Cantor, you maybe thought that the mentioned species (now known as P. magnuspinnatus) was P. modestus.
最近在fb看到研究彈塗魚的 Gianluca Polgar 引述18世紀瑞典神職人員兼博物學家 Pehr Osbeck (彼得.奧斯貝克) 於1751-53年在中國廣州的旅行誌 "A voyage to China and East Indies" 中提及彈塗魚的早期描述. 翻查wiki, 原來香港大學圖書館已掃描了該書(兩卷)的電子版:
Osbeck, Pehr (1771). A voyage to China and East Indies, Vol. I. London: Benjamin White. [digitized by University of Hong Kong Libraries, Digital Initiatives, "China Through Western Eyes." ]
Osbeck, Pehr (1771). A voyage to China and East Indies, Vol. II. London: Benjamin White. [digitized by University of Hong Kong Libraries, Digital Initiatives, "China Through Western Eyes." ]
原著為德文, 經由 John Reinhold Forster 翻譯成英文並於1771年出版. 在第一卷第 199-202頁有奧斯貝克於1751年 (清亁隆16年) 在廣州附近觀察彈塗魚的珍貴而有趣的記載:
“... THE Chinese here catch fish, by putting up mats along the shore, while the tide is in, which hinder the fry from returning with the ebb. As soon as the water was fallen, many people were seen wading up to the knees in the blue clayey ground mixed with sand, after the little fry, which jumped about in the mud like lizards; but when they saw no means of saving themselves, they crept a foot deep into the oozy ground, not without the knowledge of the Chinese, who took care to observe them, and pulled them out with their hands; these fish, fryed in oil, are the principal food of the poor, besides rice; and are of two species, as will appear from the following descriptions.
1. Fay-ye, or (Gobius petinirostris Linn.) The membrana branchiostega has four very small rays; the dorsal fins are ash-coloured, with blue transversal lines, and black spots at the bottom: the first dorsal fin is higher, reaches from opposite the breast, to the middle of the back, and has six rays; the second has twenty-six very short rays, and reaches from the middle of the back, to over-against the anus; the pectoral fins have eighteen rays; the single ventral fin is infundibuliform, fits close to the head, and has ten rays; the anal fin has twenty-six parallel rays: all the fins but the dorsal ones are brownish; the head is narrow, smooth, and of the fame breadth with the middle of the Body; the mouth is large and oblong; the fore-head flat; the tongue lacerated and truncated; the teeth are little, pointed, strait, unequal in the upper jaw; they stand only in one row, in the middle are few, in the lower jaw they fill up the whole margin; the tips are short, and do not cover the teeth: I have not discovered that they have any nostrils; the eyes are elevated, very prominent, oblong, and stand near one another on the head; the pupilla is blue; the irides of a golden colour; the back grey, with red and blue dirty spots; the belly whitish; the whole body oblong, as long as a man's hand, and as it were compressed.
2. Tan-noao (Gobius niger Linn.) The membrana branchiostega has four rays; the first dorsal fin is almost quadrangular in the middle of the back, and has eleven rays; the second is longer, and Iess, opposite the anus, has ten rays, is transparent on both sides, with transversal black lines; the single ventral fin forms a funnel, and has twelve rays; the anal fin has thirteen rays; the space between the second dorsal fin and the tail, and that between the anal fin and the tail, is equal to the breadth of one's little finger; the tail ends in a point, and has eighteen rays, of which the outermost are the shortest; the body is the same as that of the preceding fish, except its having more white and dirty black grey; the head is large, and has very small white dots; the mouth is much less, and almost round: I saw here, a net drawn by two Chinese up to their chins in water. ...”