ILaguna Marine Laboratory 43 



death specimens change color in water, the green fading to white. All 

 specimens examined have live dorsal and five anal rays. 



Arbaciosa rhessodon (Rosa Smith) 



(Plate III, M, N, 0) 



Quite common in the tide-pools throughout the range worked over. 

 Nowhere found in large numbers, however. 



Family BLENNIDAE 



Heterostichus rostratus (lirard. Kelp-Fish. 

 (Plate II, (!, and Figures 13 and 14) 



Very common in the kelp close to the rocky shores, and in the 

 outlying beds. Taken commonly by rod fishermen, who dislike it 

 because of its bait-stealing proclivities. 



There are two color types in this species. The one a plain dull 

 olive or drab, as shown in the photograph (Figure G), the other 

 distinctly marked with longitudinal or transverse bands, much as is 

 Gibbonsio critics. The latter form is described by Starks and Morris 

 (Marine Fishes of Southern California, p. 232), as having "ground 

 color light green; yellow on belly and under parts. Back and sides 

 with three or foiir longitudinal dark green stripes, more or less 

 broken up into spots, darker toward the edges and outlined with 

 white. A similar stripe running from snout through eye, to upper 

 edge of gill opening. Dorsal and anal mottled with alternate 



dark green and translucent spots; tip of mandible dark." In the 

 transversely banded form of this the colors are the same, but the 

 longitudinal bands are obsolete, being broken into eight or nine sec- 

 tions forming irregular bars, which extend on the vertical fins form- 

 ing dark blotches. At a glance this form might be confused with the 

 similar form of Gibbonxiii evides (Figure Z), but the forked caudal, 

 pointed snout, etc., readily distinguish it. 



Viscera The abdominal cavity is long and compressed, conform- 

 ing to the shape of the fish, as indicated by Figure 13. The liver, as 

 shown, is very large, underlying the whole anterior half of the ali- 

 mentary canal and associated organs. The gall bladder is closely 

 attached, and conspicuous, showing in Figure 13 through the slit 

 just in front of E. Posteriorly a large air bladder is present, closely 

 adhering to the dorsal wall of the abdominal cavity and extending 

 two-thirds of its length. Perhaps the most conspicuous feature, how- 

 ever, is the pair of gonads lying dorso-laterally, with posterior ear- 

 shaped projections extending into a cavity behind the vent, as shown 

 in the figure. The alimentary canal, which is shown diagrammatic- 

 ally in Figure 14, is moderately elongate, (four-fifths length of fish), 



