FAMILY BLENNIIDAE — SCHULTZ 301 



Family BLENNIIDAE: Scaleless Blennies 



Dr. Wilbert M. Chapman during 1947 turned over to me copies 

 of his manuscript on the Blenniidae, along with 62 original drawings 

 of the salariine blennies. He gave me permission to use his studies 

 and data in this report and as a result I have placed Dr. Chapman 

 as co-author of the subfamily Salariinae. Observations and notes 

 made on type specimens by Dr. Chapman in European and American 

 rauseumxS greatly aided the earlj^ completion of my study of the 

 Salariinae. 



Photographic copies were made of the original illustrations loaned 

 to me and these are on file in the U.S. National Museum. The 

 originals were returned, as he hopes to complete his studies. 



Dr. Chapman and I define the tropical blennies, family Blenniidae, 

 as follows: Scaleless; elongate fishes; teeth in jaws usually in a single, 

 crowded series; often with a posterior canine in lower jaw; canines 

 occur in postlarvae and juveniles at symphj^sis of jaws (they are lost 

 at transformation); vomerine teeth absent, except present in Ento- 

 macrodus; palatine teeth lacking; dorsal fin long, consisting of flexible 

 spines and articulated rays, the spinous and soft rayed parts usually 

 of nearly equal extent and separated by a notch or indentation; 

 caudal fin free or fused with dorsal and anal fins; anal fin long, with 

 or without a few flexible spines anteriorly, and articulated soft rays 

 posteriorly, the two portions not separated by an indentation; all 

 dorsal and anal rays may be flexible spines or articulated rays; pec- 

 torals present, pel vies jugular in position (inserted anterior to base 

 of pectorals), with a hidden spine and 2 to 4 soft rays; gill membranes 

 free or restricted, sometimes giU opening restricted to sides; cirri 

 present or absent on head. 



The correct identification of the salariine blennies requires very 

 careful and detailed observations of specimens under proper magni- 

 fication. In order to comprehend certain difficult characters and to 

 understand the importance of them, one should have an extensive 

 blenny collection at hand for comparative purposes. This com- 

 plicated group is so widely distributed that identifications made on 

 the basis of a limited faunal area are unsatisfactory. 



Norman (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 11, vol. 10, p. 794, 1943) 

 defined the two subfamilies under the family Blenniidae as follows: 



la. Premaxillary with a marked bony crest, forming a groove for the reception 

 of the upper lip, the pedicel usually feeble; teeth, except in Rhabdoblen- 

 nius, very small, implanted in the skin of the lips, and freely movable 



Salariinae (p. 302) 



16. Premaxillary without a bony crest above the upper lip, the pedicel usually 

 strong; teeth large or of moderate size, more or less firmly attached to 

 the bone and usually immovable Blenniinae (p. 373) 



