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PAPERS FROM TORTUGAS LABORATORY vol. xxxiv 



Clinus canariensis Valenciennes, in Webb and Berthelot, Poiss. lies Canaries, 1839, p. 60, 



pi. 17, fig. 3 — Canary Islands (female). 

 Lepisoma cirrhosum De Kay, New York fauna: Fishes, 1842, p. 41, pi. 30, fig. 94 — Florida. 

 Labrisomus microlepidotus Poey, An. Soc. esp. hist, nat., vol. 19, 1880, p. 246, pi. 8, fig. 2— 



Cuba. 

 Labrisomus lentiginosus Bean, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 19, 1906, p. 31 — Bermuda; 



Field Columbian Mus., Zool. Ser., vol. 7, 1906, p. 83, fig. 13. 



Rare at Tortugas, but usually found among concrete blocks beside the channel 

 north of Fort Jefferson or among slabs of beach rock east or west of Loggerhead 

 Key. A broken sea urchin in a 2-quart jar near its hiding place tempts it almost 

 irresistibly, and it may be easily caught by a diver kneeling near by ready to clap 

 his hand over the mouth of this trap when the fish has entered. 



It is a shy fish, alert and brisk in its movements. It excavates a retreat beneath 

 some stone, out of which it "blows" sand by strong swimming motions of its tail, 

 and comparatively large pieces of coral are removed in its jaws. 



The sexes are very different in appearance; the coloration is highly change- 

 able; local races are in process of differentiation or have been differentiated re- 

 cently in parts of the great area occupied. For these and other reasons it has borne 

 many names, though its outstanding features are strikingly constant throughout 

 its range. 



The typical form occurs in Bermuda, throughout the West Indian and Carib- 

 bean region, and at least as far south as southern Brazil. Its narrow range of 

 variation in fin formulas is shown in table 8. In 86 specimens of a sample of 91, 

 the combination is D. XVIII,i2; A. II,i8 or 19. 



The name herminier has been in the record for a species of this genus for more 

 than a century. Meanwhile the type has been lost. That Le Sueur (see citation 

 above) had a Labrisomus is certain, as the 3 ventral rays, scaly body, fleshy lips, 

 ciliated appendage at the nostril, supraocular fascicle of cilia, nuchal combs, and 

 conic palatine teeth are diagnostic. As to the species, there is little doubt that it 

 is L. nuchipinnis , as the size of the type (125 mm.) almost completely excludes 

 other known species of the genus. The anal fin formula in L. herminier, 20 (or 

 II,i8) rays, is the number most frequently occurring in L. nuchipinnis, and rare 

 in other West Indian Labrisomus, except in the tiny albigenys. The 12 dorsal 

 rays reported is the almost invariable number of nuchipinnis, whereas that many 

 are rather exceptional in other Labrisomus in the region; and although 16 dorsal 

 spines are too few, there is no known species which approaches this number more 

 nearly than nuchipinnis. A dark spot on the fore part of the dorsal fin, a spotted 

 pectoral, and a netted pattern on the cheek of L. herminier are also present in 

 one or both sexes in L. nuchipinnis. Therefore, it is almost certain that Blennius 

 herminier, based on a large female found apparently at a beach where Labrisomus 

 nuchipinnis also may be collected, is a synonym of that species. 



The types of Labrisomus microlepidotus Poey (U. S. Nat. Mus. no. 37572) are 

 2 females 153 and 164 mm. in total length. The fin formulas in these are those 

 commonest in L. nuchipinnis, including its almost invariable 14 pectoral rays. 

 Despite the alleged difference in squamation, I can find nothing therein which 

 separates the two. In the types of L. microlepidotus the cheeks and branchiostegal 



