FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 363 



139. Snake blenny (Lumpenus lampelrseforrnis Walbaum) 



Serpent blenny 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2438. 



Description. — This is a very slender little fish, as its name implies, being only 

 about one-fifteenth as deep as long, slightly compressed, with moderately long head, 

 very large eye, wide mouth, and blunt snout. It somewhat suggests a launce 

 (p. 183) in general form, but its rounded tail (that of the launce is forked), its large 

 pectorals, spiny dorsal (the launce has a soft dorsal), and the fact that its lower 

 jaw does not project beyond the upper, together with its color, serve to separate 

 it from the launce at a glance. The chief anatomic feature distinguishing it from 

 the rock eel, as noted above (p. 359) , is that its 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 pectoral, too, is much 

 larger and the dorsal and anal about twice as high, relative to the depth of the 

 bodv, as in the rock eel, while the anal fin originates farther forward, the separation 

 of dorsal and anal fins from the caudal is more evident, and the eyes are noticeably 



Fio. 182— Snake blenny (Lumpenus lampetrseformis) 



larger. The even rounded outline of the pectoral is the most obvious difference 

 between this species and its close ally, the shanny, in which the lower pectoral rays 

 are much longer than the upper (p. 365). The outline of the caudal fin, which is 

 oval (more pointed in large than in small fish), with the central rays much longer 

 than the outer ones, is likewise diagnostic. 



Color. — The snake blenny is much paler than is usual for the rock eel, described 

 (we have not seen the adult in life) as brownish or greenish yellow, its sides and 

 back with many (about 20) faint brown blotches, its dorsal fin barred obliquely 

 with about 12 and its caudal transversely with about 6 dark bands. 



Size. — One of about 16 inches described by Storer (1867) from Massachusetts 

 Bay is the largest on record. 



General range. — Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans, south to Scotland on the 

 eastern side and to Massachusetts on the western side. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — This northern fish finds its southern limit in 

 the Gulf. Huntsman (1922a) reports it from St. Mary Bay in August and Septem- 

 ber, from Passamaquoddy Bay from April to August, and in the open waters of the 

 Bay of Fundy from January on, so that it is by no means uncommon in the north- 

 east corner of the Gulf; and although definite knowledge of the adult on the coast 

 of Maine is confined to an Eastport record for 1872, it probably occurs all around 

 the shores of the Gulf at some little depth, for Goode and Bean (1879, p. 10) de- 

 scribed it as a common resident of the deeper waters of Massachusetts Bay. We 

 have never trawled it, but it would not be surprising if it should finally prove both 



