FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



499 



Figure 263. — Radiated shanny (Vivaria subbifurcata) . From Jordan and Evermann. Drawing by H. L. Todd. 



single large dark blotch. More significant morpho- 

 logical characters are that it is much stouter 

 of body (about one-sixth to one-seventh as deep 

 as it is long) than the snake blenny; that its 

 pectoral fins and especially its ventrals are con- 

 siderably larger, relatively, than those of the 

 rock eel (p. 492), while its ventrals are situated 

 farther in advance of the pectorals; and that its 

 gill openings are much wider and extend forward 

 under the throat (confined to the sides of the 

 neck in the rock eel). The evenly rounded 

 outline of its pectorals distinguishes it from the 

 shanny, in which the lower rays are the longest, 

 and are separate at their tips. It is a stouter 

 fish than the Arctic shanny (p. 497), and its lateral 

 line is double, with an upper branch and a lower, 

 whereas the lateral line of the Arctic shanny is 

 single. The outline of the edge of its gill covers, 

 with the upper corner terminating in a rounded 

 fleshy flap concealing a sharp angle, is diagnostic 

 also, for they are rounded in all the other Gulf of 

 Maine blennies. 



The dorsal profile of the head is more convex 

 than the ventral; the lower branch of the lateral 

 line runs the whole length of the body, but the 

 upper branch (the more obvious of the two) 

 reaches only about as far back as the tips of 

 the pectoral fins. The dorsal fin, of 43 or 44 

 spines, is higher, relatively, than that of the rock 

 eel, and is practically continuous with the caudal 

 fin. The anal fin, of about 30 rays, is about half 

 as long as the dorsal, and it is separated from the 

 caudal by a short but definite interspace, made 

 obvious by the abrupt rear angle of the anal. 

 The pectoral fins, evenly rounded in outline, 

 reach back about as far as the eighth dorsal-fin 

 spine. The rear margin of the caudal fin is evenly 

 rounded. 



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 spine to the eighth or tenth spine. The 

 back and the upper parts of the sides are dull 

 brown, obscurely barred or blotched alternately 

 with paler and darker; the sides of the head are 

 marked with a dark bar running obliquely down- 

 ward and backward from the eye; and the belly 

 is pale brownish (described also as yellowish 

 white) . The caudal fin is crossbarred with 3 or 4 

 series of dark dots, and the dorsal fin is marked 

 with many tiny dark dots, besides the blotch 

 just mentioned. 



Size. — The largest one we have seen or read of 

 is 6% inches long, but the maximum size may well 

 be larger. 



Habits. — Nothing is known of the mode of 

 life of this shanny except that it is a bottom fish 

 like other blennies, living among seaweed and 

 stones from low-tide mark down at least to 30 

 fathoms, and very likely much deeper. Dr. 

 Huntsman writes in his notes, "It is found under 

 stones near low tide mark" with the rock eel but 

 far less abundantly than the latter and only on 

 the more exposed shores. Cornish M likewise 

 describes it as taken under stones on the beach, 

 as well as in the dredge and trawl in 6 to 30 

 fathoms at Canso, Nova Scotia. 



The eggs have not been seen, but the fact that 

 we have taken larvae as small as 8 to 11 mm. in 

 our tow nets in June, July, and October 81 points 

 to a spawning season lasting from late spring 

 throughout the summer (if our identification is 

 correct) . 



» Contrib. Canad. Biol. (1902-1905) 1907, p. 87. 



" Tln>se are listed in Bull. Mus. of Comp. Zool., vol. 68, No. 2, 1914, p. 109: 

 and vol. 69, 1917, p. 273. 



