5 I2 



The Blennies : Blenniida? 



Chirolophis (ascanii) of north Europe is remarkable for the 

 tufted filaments on the head. These are still more developed in 

 Bryostemma of the North Pacific, Bryostemma polyactocepha- 

 lum and several other species being common from Puget Sound 

 to Japan. Apodichthys (flavidus) of California is remarkable 

 for a large quill-shaped anal spine and for the great variation 

 in color, the hue being yellow, grass-green, or crimson, according 

 to the color of the algae about it. There is no evidence, how- 

 ever, that the individual fish can change its color, and these color 

 forms seem to be distinct races within the species. Xererpes 

 fucorum of California lies quiescent in the sea-weed (Fucus] after 

 the tide recedes, its form, color, and substance seeming to corre- 

 spond exactly with those of the stems of algas. Pholis gunnellus 



. , 



FIG. 457. Gunnel, Pholis gunnellus (L.). Gloucester, Mass. 



is the common gunnel (gunwale), or butter-fish, of both shores 

 of the North Atlantic, with numerous allies in the North Pacific. 

 Of these, Enedrias nebulosus, the ginpo, or silver-tail, is especially 

 common in Japan. Xiphidion and Xiphistes of the California 

 coast, and Dictyosoma of Japan, among others, are remarkable 

 for the great number of lateral lines, these extending crosswise 



FIG. 45S. Xiphistes chirus Jordan & Gilbert. Amchitka I., Alaska. 



as well as lengthwise. Cebedichthys violaceus, a large blenny of 

 California, has the posterior half of the dorsal made of soft rays. 

 Opisthocentrus of Siberia and north Japan has the dorsal spines 



