i6o SALT-WATER FISHES 



G. friesii is the new goby aforementioned, named and 

 described by Dr. Scharff in or about the year 1891. It is 

 yellow in colour, and has numerous dark-brown spots, and the 

 dorsal fin has sometimes, but not always, an elongated ray. 



The White, or Transparent, Goby [Aphia pelliicida\ a 

 tiny creature of not more than i^ in., has an interest 

 distinct from that of any other member of the fmiily. It is 

 thought to reach maturity, spawn, and die within its first 

 year, so that it would be what is known as an " annual ver- 

 tebrate." This statement, which owes its origin to Professor 

 Collett, of Christiania, is one that will in all probability always 

 be labelled " not proven." It might conceivably be demon- 

 strated that in the aqunritim the transparent goby dies after 

 spawning once. Mr. Cunningham has demonstrated that 

 female congers cannot spawn in the aquarium, and that in 

 their efforts to deposit their eggs they die. From this we are 

 are asked to believe that the conger spawns once and dies in 

 nature ; but many will prefer to keep an open mind in the 

 case of both conger and goby. It may be that another 

 generation will view the alleged short span of this goby's life 

 in the same light in which we now, thanks to later observa- 

 tions in the aquarium, regard the " two-year " existence of 

 the sticklebacks. Yarrell, Donovan, and other early writers 

 asked the world to believe that these fishes lived only two years, 

 and their theories have been proved wrong. Such ephemeral 

 careers are familiar enough to the botanist and entomologist, 

 but among vertebrates so short a life is, under normal con- 

 ditions, extremely uncommon. 



Nilsson's Goby {Crystallogohius nilssoni) has already been 

 mentioned in reference to its distribution and abundance on 

 our coasts. The ventral fins of these gobies show the transi- 

 tion to the disc of the suckers, and many of these fishes cling 

 in like fashion to the rocks, and thus resist the force of the 

 waves. This method of adhesion, which we shall find more 

 highly developed in the suckers themselves, must be a great 



