366 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



"keeps close to the bottom, with the body extended and the pectoral fins expanded, 

 and apparently supports itself on the free lower rays of those fins", 23 this being all that 

 is known of its mode of life. Annelid worms and pelagic amphipods have been found 

 in shanny stomachs. It is supposed to spawn in winter, but neither its eggs nor its 

 larva? have ever been seen. 



141. Radiated shanny {Vivaria subbij urcata Storer.) 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2440. . 



Description. 24 — This is a much stouter fish than either the snake blenny (p. 363) 

 or the shanny (p. 365), being only about one-fifth as deep as long. The dorsal 

 profile of the head is more convex than the ventral, the lips thick and fleshy, the eye 

 of moderate size, and the lateral line bifurcate with its lower branch running the 

 whole length of the body but the upper branch (which is much the more obvious of 

 the two) reaching only about as far back as the tip of the pectoral fin. It is easily 

 distinguished from the rock eel, which it most nearly resembles, by its larger ventrals, 

 their situation farther in advance of the pectorals, the relatively greater height of 

 the dorsal fin (compare fig. 184 with fig. 178), the fact that there are fewer fin rays 



Fig. 184. — Radiated shanny ( Ulraria sitbbifurccla) 



(43 or 44 dorsal spines) , and especially by the much wider gill openings, which 

 extend forward under the throat, whereas they are confined to the sides in the rock 

 eel. The outline of the edge of the gill cover, with its upper corner terminating 

 in a rounded fleshy flap concealing a sharp angle, is likewise diagnostic, for it is 

 rounded in all other Gulf of Maine blennies. The relationship of dorsal and anal 

 fins to the caudal is an equally useful field mark, the former being practically con- 

 tinuous with the caudal, but the anal separated from it by a definite, if short, space, 

 made obvious by the abrupt rear angle of the fin. The pectoral is much larger than 

 that of the rock eel, evenly rounded in outline, and reaches back about to the eighth 

 dorsal spine. The caudal is evenly rounded and the anal is slightly more than half 

 as long as the dorsal. 



Color. — The most distinctive feature of the color pattern — one which marks 

 this species among local blennies- -is the presence of a large oval dusky blotch on 

 the dorsal fin extending from the fifth or sixth to the eighth or tenth spine. 25 The 

 back and upper sides are dull brown obscurely barred or blotched alternately 

 with paler and darker, and the belly pale brownish (described also as yellowish 



» Smitt. Scandinavian Fishes, 1892, p. 230. 



3* Based on three specimens from Grand Manan, the largest 5% inches long. 



28 Only to the eighth in such specimens as we have seen. 



