492 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



3. The pectoral fins are about as long as the body is high; the ventral fins are well developed, without noticeable spines, 



and about as long as one-half the height of the body Arctic shanny, p. 497 



The pectoral fins are only about one-half as long as the body is high; the ventral fins are minute (likely to be over- 

 looked) Rock eel, p. 492 



4. Pectoral fins evenly rounded, their middle rays the longest; dorsal fin marked on its forward part with one large and 



conspicuous dark blotch; only 43 or 44 dorsal fin spines Radiated shanny, p. 498 



Pectoral fins with the lower rays longer than the upper rays and free at their tips; 58 to 61 dorsal fin 

 spines Shanny, p. 497 



Rock eel Pholis gunnellus (Linnaeus) 1758 distances along the middle of the back and spread- 



p ing out onto the dorsal fin, are the most character- 

 istic feature of the color pattern of this fish. The 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2419. ground tint of the upper part is yellowish, olive 



Description.— The slender flexible trunk (only brown, reddish, or light red, matching the seaweed 



about one-tenth as deep as it is long and about one- or the bottom . with pale, irregularly rounded 



half as thick as it is deep) , short head, and rounded cloudings on the sides, and with an oblique streak 



nose of this little blenny suggest an eel, but the from the e F e to fche an § le of the i aw - The bel] y 



spiny nature of its dorsal fin betrays its true rela- varies from P ale &*? to yellowish white. The 



tionship. The dorsal fin (73 to 86 spines) extends pectoral, caudal, and anal fins are yellowish. We 



from the nape of the neck back along the whole have seen a specimen (at Boothbay) that was 



length of the trunk to the base of the caudal fin, brick red above and below - H g nt and dark mottled, 



from which it is marked off by a shallow notch necked also with tiny black dots, and with the 



only; and it is of uniform height from end to end. s P ots on the dorsal nn dark red instead of black. 



The anal fin (2 very short spines and 37 to 44 rays) Size.— The maximum length is about 12 inches 



originates opposite the mid-length of the dorsal, to but few of tnose found are more than 6 to s incb es 



which it corresponds in height and outline, and lon S- 



runs back similarly to meet the caudal fin, from Habits. — Rock eels are often found along low 

 which it is marked off by a distinct notch, though tide mark, left by the ebb in little pools of water 

 there is no free space between the two fins. The under stones, or among seaweed, where they 

 caudal fin is small and rounded. The tiny await the return of the tide. But they are not 

 ventrals, set near together close in front of or confined to very shoal water as formerly supposed, 

 under the pectorals, are reduced to one very short for we have also collected them in considerable 

 spine and one rudimentary ray each. The pec- numbers both within the Gulf and on the offshore 

 toral fins, smaller than in our other blennies, are banks down to 40 fathoms, and one has been taken 

 a little longer than one-half the length of the head. as deep as 100 fathoms (p. 494) . 

 The skin of the trunk is clothed with very small They are rather local throughout their range, 

 scales, hardly visible, however, through the thick In some places one is to be found under almost 

 layer of slimy mucus with which the rock eel is every stone; on others you may turn rocks in 

 covered. The head is naked; the mouth is small vain; their presence or absence along any particu- 

 and oblique; the upper jaw is armed with several lar stretch of shore probably depends on the char- 

 rows of conical teeth, but the lower jaw has a acter of the bottom immediately outside, for this 

 single row only. fish prefers pebbly, gravelly, or stony ground, or 

 Color. — A row of about 10 to 14 round, black- shell beds, and not mud or eelgrass. Neither 

 centered and pale-edged spots, spaced at equal have we found them about the steep ledges so 



'■*~^#;,, 



: -  - 



Figure 257. — Rock eel (Pholis gunnellus), Gloucester, Mass. From Jordan and Evermann. Drawing by H. L. Todd. 



