228 FI^LD COLUMBIAN MUSEUM ZOOLOGY, VOL. V. 



in head; origin of dorsal fin slightly nearer last ray of soft dorsal, 2^ 

 in body; pectoral nearly equaling length of head; ventral ij/j in head; 

 caudal fin rounded; least depth of caudal peduncle ig in head. 



Color brownish; sides with 8 or 9 light irregular bars running 

 downward and slightly forward; a dark humeral blotch; a dark bar 

 on base of pectoral ; a dark streak below eye to posterior angle of the 

 mouth ; 2 to 4 dark bands from eye and below eye to posterior margin 

 of preopercle; vertical fins more or less spotted with darker; haired 

 fins without blotches. Length i to 2 feet. 



This species usually inhabits salt or brackish water. 



86. Eleotris Bloch & Schneider. 



Eleotris Bloch & Schneider, Syst. Ichth., 65, 1801. (Type, Gobius 

 pisonis Gmelin.) 



Body elongate, slender, compressed posteriorly; head long, flat- 

 tened above, without spines or crests, and almost entirely scaly ; mouth 

 large, oblique, the lower jaw projecting; lower pharyngeals rather 

 broad, the teeth small, bluntish; preopercle with a small concealed 

 spine below, its tip hooked forward; eyes small, high, anterior; isthmus 

 broad ; ventral fins separate, rays 1,5; scales moderate, mostly ctenoid, 

 45 to 60 in the lateral series; vertebra? about 26. 



A small group of fishes inhabiting warm seas; a few enter fresh 

 water. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF ELEOTRIS. . 

 a. Teeth subequal, those of the inner or outer series PAGE 



enlarged; scales all ctenoid pisonis 228 



aa. Teeth all equal; scales of dorsal and ventral 



regions cycloid, those on sides ctenoid pictus 229 



216. Eleotris pisonis (Gmelin). GUAVINA TETARD; SLEEPER. 



Gobius pison is Gmelin, Syst. Nat., 1206, 1788 (based on Eleotris 

 capite plagioplateo of Gronow; after Marcgrave & Piso, Hist. 

 Brasil., iv, 166, 1648; Brazil). 

 Eleotris pisonis Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., 



1898, 2200. 



Streams of the West Indies and of Tropical America, from southern 

 Florida to Brazil. (Vera Cruz; Boca del Rio.) 



Head 3 to 3^; depth 4^; D. vi-i, 8; A. i, 8; scales 60. Body 

 elongate, not much compressed; head depressed, flat; interorbital 

 area 3 in head; mouth large, maxillary reaching vertical from the 

 pupil ; lower jaw projecting; snout 5 in head; jaws with bands of villi- 

 form teeth, none on vomer and palatines; eye 5K m head; top of 

 head, opercle, and cheeks covered with scales; a stout, concealed spine 



