107. COTTID,E - OLIGOCOTTUS. 717 



extend on the fins; belly livid bluish or green, reticulated with 

 olive; the ground color is excetedingly variable, ranging from cherry- 

 red to green; lips blotched with white; fins all more or less barred; 

 flesh and membranes livid bluish. Top of head rugose, without spines; 

 interorbital space concave, narrower than the large eye; a fleshy flap 

 on middle of snout, and one on end of maxillary; superciliary cirri 

 large, more than half diameter of orbit, laciuiate; upper preopercular 

 spine short, straight, about half diameter of eye; suborbital stay very 

 broad; maxillary extending to beyond eye. First four spines of dorsal 

 subequal, shorter than the fifth; dorsal fins scarcely connected at base; 

 pectorals shortish, not reaching anal. Skin thick and leathery, with- 

 out prickles or cirri. Head 3; depth 4. Eye 6 in head. D. XI-18; 

 A. 12; P. 15; V. I. 5 ; Lat. 1. (pores) t!0; pyloric co3ca about 30; ver- 

 tebrae 15 +21. L. 30 inches. Puget Sound to San Diego; very abun- 

 dant. The largest of our Cottidcc, reaching a weight of 10 to 15 pounds. 



(Hemitripterus marmoratus Ayres, Proc. Gal. Acad. Sci. 1854, 4; Girard, U. S. Pac. 

 E. R. Surv. Fish. 64; Giiuther, ii, 154.) 



377. OL,IOCTTU Girard. 



(CHnocottus and Blennicottus Gill.) 

 (Girard, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1856, 133: type Oligocottus maculosus Girard.) 



Body rather elongate, the skin smooth or provided with some small 

 prickly scales; preopercular spines short, simple or furcate; small ten- 

 tacles on head and anterior parts of body; gill-membranes broadly 

 united, free from the isthmus; a slit behind fourth gill; dorsal spines 

 slender, the fin short and not emarginate; anal papilla large; ventrals 

 I, 3, or I, 4. Small fishes of the North Pacific, inhabiting rock-pools 

 between tide-marks. (A^oc, small; XOTTOS, Cottus.) 



a. Mouth with distinct lateral cleft; the head narrow anteriorly. 

 &. Skiu with imbedded, prickle-like scales. (Clinocoitus Gill.*) 



O. jsasalns Grd. 



Olivaceous, much mottled, and with numerous small black and white 

 spots; about five irregular darker bars; a dark bar at base of caudal; 

 fins all spotted; cirri very numerous, mostly whitish, giving the fish a 

 woolly appearance in life. Head narrower anteriorly and rather pointed ; 

 mouth with lateral cleft, the maxillary reaching beyond pupil; baud of 

 palatine teeth short and narrow; eye large, 5 in head, about twice the 

 width of the deeply-grooved interorbital space; nasal spines distant 



*Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1881, 168: type Oligocottus analis Grd. (Clinus; 

 Cottus.} 



