PISHES OP NEW YORK 665 



similarly marked; head finely dotted with black; a dusky spot 

 at base of caudal in both sexes. New York to Florida. 



Mitchill found a specimen of this little blenny in an oyster, 

 and described it under the name Blennius pholis. 

 Another specimen was sent to Cuvier from New York, and a 

 specimen in the Lyceum in New York, described by De Kay, was 

 obtained from New York harbor. This blenny is common south- 

 ward in shallow water. It seldom exceeds the length of 3^ 



inches. 



Family XIF-HIDIIDAE 



Rock Eels 



Genus PHOLIS (Gronow) Scopoli 



Body long and low, considerably compressed, somewhat band- 

 shaped, the tail slowly tapering; head small, compressed, naked; 

 mouth rather small, oblique; jaws with rather small teeth in 

 narrow bands or single series; vomer and palatines usually 

 toothless; gill membranes broadly united, free from the isthmus; 

 scales very small, smooth; no lateral line. Dorsal fin long and 

 low, beginning near the head, composed entirely of stiff, sharp, 

 subequal spines; anal similar in form, of two spines and many 

 soft rays; caudal fin short and small, more or less joined to 

 dorsal and anal; pectorals short, rather shorter than head; ven- 

 trals very small, of one spine and a rudimentary ray; intestinal 

 canal short, without caeca. Shore fishes of the Northern seas. 



326 Pholis gunnellus (Linnaeus) 

 Butter fish; Rock Eel 



Blennius gunnellus LINNAEUS, Syst. Nat. ed. X, I, 257, 1758, Atlantic 



Ocean. 

 Centronotus gunnellus BLOCH <fc SCHNEIDER, Syst. Ichth. 167, 1801; 



GUNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. Ill, 285, 1861. 

 Opliidium mucronatum MITCHELL, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y. I, 249, 



pi. 2. fig. 1, 1815. 

 (tunnel I us iinicroiidtiis DE KAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 153, pi. 12. fig. 36, 



1842, New York Harbor; STOKER, Hist. Fish. Mass. 94, pi. XVII, 



fig. 2. 1867. 

 M untntaidcs f/iinncJlns GOOI>E & BEAN. Bull. Essex Inst. XI. 11, 1879. 



nunnrlliis BKAX. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. IX, 370, 1897; H. M. 



SMITH, Bull. U. S. F. C. 1897, 106, 1898; JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 



47. U. S. Nat. Mus. Ill, 2419, pi. CGCXLII, fig. 832, 1900. 



