FAMILY GOBID^E BLENNIUS. 149 



THE SEA-WEED BLENNY. 



Blennius fucorum. 

 plate xxii. fig. 66. 



Le Blcnnie des focus, B. fucorum. Cuv. et Val. Hist, des Poiss. Vol. 11, p. 263, pi. 324. 



Characteristics. Greenish brown, with brown spots above the lateral line. Bifid cirri over 

 the eyes, as long as the head. Length one to two inches. 



Description. Body small and scaleless ; the lateral line curves broadly above the pectoral 

 fin. Head large, and deeper than long. Eyes large and prominent, and the orbits projecting 

 beyond the facial outline. Length of the head to the total length as one to five. A thread- 

 shape cirrus on the upper part of each orbit, nearly as long as the head, bifid at the tip, with 

 some fine threads at its internal base. Teeth fine, fixed and crowded ; twenty-four in each 

 jaw, and behind, on each side, above and below, a strong canine tooth. 



The dorsal fin commences just behind the nape, and declines gradually to the eleventh ray; 

 it then gently rises, and extends with nearly subequal rays almost to the caudal fin. The anal 

 is coterminal with the dorsal, and contains eighteen or nineteen rays. Caudal rounded, with 

 thirteen or fourteen rays. 



Color. Soiled greenish, changing to brownish above, with numerous brown spots on the 

 cheeks and sides of the body. Throat and belly faintly rosaceous. Iris bluish, with reddish 

 points radiating about the pupils. 



Length, 2 "5. 



Fin rays, D. 11 . 17 ; P. 14 ; V. 3 ; A. 18; C. 14. 



In a voyage from Constantinople in 1831, I met with this species swimming about sea- 

 weed, not far from the coast of New-York, and made notes of it at the time, considering it as 

 either a young individual of some larger species, or as undescribed. My specimen was not 

 more than an inch and a half long. It agrees so entirely with the figure and description of 

 Cuvier, that I have no hesitation in referring it to that species. The specimen described by 

 Cuvier and Valenciennes was taken south of the Azores. 



(EXTRA-LIMITAL. ) 



B. geminatus. (Wood. Ac. Sc. Vol. 4, p. 278.) Spotted ; a black spot on the anterior part of the 

 dorsal fin; a trifid cirrus over each eye. D. 27; P. 13; V. 2; A. 17; C. 14 §. Length 2-3 

 inches. South-Carolina. 



B. punctaius. (Id. lb. p. 279.) An irregular blackish spot between the first and third rays of the 

 dorsal ; a bifid cirrus over each eye. Body thickly covered with small blackish spots, confluent on 

 the sides. Caudal with five obscure bands. V. 3; C. 11. Length 3 inches. South-Carolina. 



