FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



495 



Figure 260. — Snake blenny (Lumpenus lumprelaeformis). Drawing by Louella E. Cable. 



the fact that its lower jaw does not project be- 

 yond the upper, together with its color, serve to 

 separate it from the launce at a glance. 



The chief anatomic feature (apart from its 

 slenderness) distinguishing it from the rock eel 

 (p. 492) is that the ventral fins (each of one short 

 spine and three longer rays) are well developed 

 and one-third to one-half as long as the pectorals, 

 slightly in advance of which they stand. The 

 pectorals, too, are much larger than those of the 

 rock eel, and its dorsal fin, with 68 to 85 spines 

 and its anal with 49 to 62 rays are fully twice as 

 high, relative to the depth of the body, while 

 its anal fin originates farther forward ; the separa- 

 tion of dorsal and anal fins from the caudal is 

 more evident; and its eyes are noticeably larger. 



The very slender body is the most obvious 

 difference between this species and its allies the 

 shanny (p. 497), the Arctic shanny (p. 497), and 

 the radiated shanny (p. 498), which are rather 

 robust. The outline of the caudal fin, which is 

 oval (more pointed in large fish than in small), 

 with the central rays much longer than the outer 

 ones, is diagnostic, too. 



Color.— Whitish or pale brown on the back and 

 sides, with darker brown markings. On a 12- 

 inch fish taken off the coast of Maine the head 

 was pale brown, the sides of the body blotched 

 with brown, the dorsal fin marked obliquely with 

 18 pale bars, the caudal marked transversely with 

 8 bars, the anal rays pale brown against a color- 

 less membrane, the ventrals white, and the pec- 

 torals tinged with brown. 



Size. — The largest one so far measured was 19 

 inches long. 64 



Remarks. — Vladykov's M discovery that New- 

 foundland specimens have a larger number of 

 dorsal fin-spines (85) and anal fin rays (62) and 

 a longer caudal fin (longer than the head) than 

 others from the St. Lawrence estuary (75-79 

 dorsal spines, 52-56 anal rays) shows that the 

 snake blenny tends to break up into local races. 

 Vladykov has made the St. Lawrence race the 

 basis of one new subspecies, americanus, and the 

 Newfoundland race the basis of another, terrae 

 novae; both of which have more spines and rays 

 than have been recorded for some eastern At- 

 lantic specimens. Gulf of Maine specimens, with 

 77-83 dorsal spines, and 56-59 anal rays, are 

 intermediate between the Newfoundland and Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence races in this respect. 



Habits. — Little is known of the habits of the 

 snake blenny on either side of the Atlantic. 

 Although it is not found along the littoral zone, 

 it is a fish of comparatively shoal water, never 

 taken as deep as 100 fathoms (so far as we have 

 been able to learn) and apparently the most 

 common from a fathom or so below tide mark 

 down to 40 or 50 fathoms. And as most of the 

 specimens that have been caught in Scottish 

 waters were picked up by the foot rope of the 

 trawl, Sim's 66 suggestion that it burrows in mud 



« In the Museum of Comparative Zoology, trawled about 17 miles off Cape 

 Ann. 1st. 42°2S' N., long. 70°13' W., at 42 fathoms, in July 1931. 

 •» Rept. Newfoundland Fish. Res. Comm., vol. 2, No. 3, 1935, p. 75-78. 

 » Jour. Linnaean Soc. London, Zoology, vol. 20, 1890, p. 38. 



