VIVIPAROUS BLENNY. 273 



ACANTHOPTERYG1L GOEJADJE. 



THE VIVIPAROUS BLENNY. 



EELPOUT, GUFFER, AND GREENBONE. Scotland. 



Zoarces viviparus, Cuv. et VALENC. Hist. Nat. des Poiss. t. xi. p. 454. 



,, ,, CUVJER, Regne An. t. ii. p. 240. 



Blennius ,, BLOCH, pt. ii. pi. 72. 



,, ,, Viviparous Bleimy, PENN. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 283, pi. 61. 



,, ,, ,, ,, DUN. Brit. Fish. pi. 34. 



Gunnellus ,, ,, Gunnel, FLEM. Brit. An. p. 207, sp. 125. 



Zoarces ,, ,, Blenny, JENYNS, Brit. Vert. p. 384. 



ZOAUCES. Generic Characters Body elongated, covered with a mucous se- 

 cretion ; head smooth, muzzle blunt; ventral fins situated before the pectorals ; 

 dorsal, anal, and caudal fins united ; all the fins very thick ; vent anterior to 

 the middle of the body, its situation marked by a tubercle ; teeth conical, placed 

 in a single row ; branchiostegous rays 6. 



THE VIVIPAROUS BLENNY differs from the other Bri- 

 tish Blennies in the circumstance to which its name refers 

 that of bringing forth its young alive, which seem per- 

 fectly able to provide for themselves from the moment they 

 are excluded. Mr. Low, in his Fauna Orcadensis, says, 

 when he first observed this, he put a number of the small 

 fishes into a tumbler-glass of sea-\vater, and kept them alive 

 for many days, changing the water every tide. They grew 

 a good deal bigger, and continued very lively, till in a hot 



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