380 BULLETIN 189, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Range. — Both sides of the Atlantic, northward to Norway and 

 Newfoundland Banks and Cape Breton, and about to latitude 35° 

 south. On the Pacific coast of America from southern California to 

 Chile. Also recorded from the Mediterranean and Red Seas, Cape 

 of Good Hope, Indian Ocean, etc. 



Family GOBIIDAE: Gobies 



Body oblong or elongate, compressed at least posteriorly; head 

 often more or less depressed; opercle and preopercle unarmed; pre- 

 maxillaries protractile; skin of head continuous with covering of 

 eyes; gill openings largely restricted to the sides, the membranes 

 being united with the isthmus; gills four, a slit behind the fourth; 

 teeth in one or a few series, or in a band in each jaw, generally small; 

 lateral line wanting; scales present or absent; dorsal fins two, sep- 

 arated or connected, the spinous part with about two to eight flexible 

 spines; caudal separate from dorsal and anal; anal generally similar 

 to soft dorsal, with a single weak spine; ventrals united, forming a 

 sucking disk, free from abdomen. 



A single genus of this large family is known from Peru. 



Genus BATHYGOBIUS Bleeker. 1878 



Body moderately robust; head broad, depressed; snout bluntly 

 rounded; eyes fairly large, close together; mouth moderate, somewhat 

 oblique; teeth in a band in each jaw, no strong canines; scales moder- 

 ately large, ctenoid, wanting on snout and side of head; dorsal fins 

 separate, the first with sLx or seven spines; caudal round; pectoral 

 large, with free, silklike rays above. 



A single species has been recognized from Peru. 



BATHYGOBIUS SOPORATOR (Cuvierand Valenciennes) 



Peje-gato 



Gobius soporator Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1837, p. 56, Martinique (original 



description). — Regan, 1913, p. 279, Lobos de Tierra, Peru. 

 Mapo soporator Stakks, 1906, p. 799, Paita, Peru, and Guayaquil, Ecuador. — 



Evermann and Radcliffe, 1917, p. 134, Lobos de Afuera, Peru (synonymy; 



description) . 

 Bathygobius soporator Meek and Hildebrand, 1928, p. 867, both coasts of Panama 



(synonymy; description; range). 



Head 3.4; depth 5.1; D. VI, I, 9; A. I, 8; scales 40. 



Body fairly robust, compressed posteriorly ; head broader than deep ; 

 caudal peduncle long, 3.0 in head; snout blunt, 3.4; eye directed very 

 slightly upward, 5.2; interorbital 9.6; lips fringed; mouth moderate, 

 oblique, terminal; gape reaching below anterior margin of pupil; 

 teeth in a band in each jaw, pointed, those of outer series and also 

 those of inner series somewhat enlarged; anterior nostril in a short 

 tube ; numerous pores and papillae about the head, the most prominent 



