800 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



Fam. GOBIESOCIDJ]. 



Bodij hroad, tadpole-like, depressed in front and terete hehind. Seales ivantiHg. No distinct lateral line. No 

 hrauclivd Hn-rai/s. Onli/ one dorsal Jin, corresponding to titc posterior dorsal fin in the preceding forms, and 

 composed of flexible, simple and articulated rai/s, generalli/ iritlmiit spinous rai/s". Anal fin similar in shape and 

 opposed to the dorsal, hat shorter {ivith fea-cr raijs). Ventral fns proximalhi distinct, hat in front united hij a 

 dermal fold and hehind surrounding a double adhesive disk, the frame of ivhich is formed anteriorly by the pelvic 

 I/ones (Did posteriorly by the postclavictdar bones, which project downwards behind tlie former. Fourth branchial 

 arch with no lamelke or only one rou\ Pscudohranchia 2^'>'<^sent, hut most often only rudimentary. Six or five 

 hranchiostegcd rays. Air-bladder and pyloric appendages wanting. No osseous connexion betiveen the suborbital 

 ring and the preoperculum. Palatine and vomerine teeth wanting. Anal papilla present, at least in the males. 



It is indeed true, as Gunthek has remarked, that, 

 in the structure of the ventral disk, these fishes are 

 entirely different from Cyclogaster and Cyclopterus ; but 

 tlieir relation to the latter in this respect, to a certain 

 extent, corresponds to that of Callionymus to the Gobies, 

 and thev have many striking resemblances to Callio- 

 nymus. They ma)', therefore, with reason retain their 

 place in the Gobiomorph series, as was also the opinion 

 of Job. Mullek, as cited above. 



On merely external examination we easily lind that 

 the adhesive disk is of a more complex structure than 

 in the |)receding family, and is formed of two distinct 

 ])arts, an anterior and a posterior, though the boundary 

 between them is not always marked throughout the 

 exterior. The skin of the adhesive disk is covered with 

 a mosaic of small tubercles, and underneath the skin 

 is a well-developed layer of muscular tissue. The an- 



rim is turned upwards on each side of the body behind 

 the pectoral fin, the fish being thus apparently possessed 

 of two pairs of ])ectoral fins, the one just in front of 

 and covering the other. This is due to the fact that, 

 just as the pelvis forms the osseous framework of the 

 anterior division of the adhesive disk, the posterior di- 

 vision is also furnished with an osseous framework, 

 which belongs to the lower |)art of the ])ostclavicular 

 l)one suspended on each side of the body ^vitilill the 

 shoulder-girdle (the clavicular bones). But the carti- 

 laginous rods issue from the cartilaginous disk which 

 lies in the skin outside (beneath) the postclavicular bone, 

 and thus do not correspond to the rays of either the 

 pectoral or the ventral fins. The true rays of the 

 vential fins are four in number, simple and articulated, 

 the penultimate ra^- being the longest; and in front of 

 them Ave hud an unarticulated, discous, spinous ray, 



terior margin is formed by the flat, extended rays of I broad at the top, often triangular and geniculate, and 

 tlie ventral fins and the membrane which unites them j hidden in the skin. In a groove in the anterior side 

 to each other, and anteriorly forms a broad connecting- 

 link between the two ventral fins. As in the Dragonets, 

 the same membrane posteriorly runs up the louver part 

 of the front of the pectoral fins, which in several of 

 the forms belonging to this family is also furnished 

 with a perpendicular dermal fold lying in front of this 

 point. The posterior division of the adhesive disk is 

 furnished with a separate dermal rim, whit'h is extended 

 by cartilaginous rods exactly resembling fin-rays, and 

 the more liable to Ijc mistaken for the latter as the 



of the latter Gunther also found a thinner ray con- 

 cealed, "(]uite free and not joined to the pelvic bone." 

 The number of ventral rays normal in the Acantho- 

 pterygians (G) may thus occur in this family too. 



The shape of the whole liead, the position of the 

 eyes (though they are further apart), tlie shape and 

 inferior position of the thick-lipped and protrusile mouth, 

 and aljove all, in most of the forms, tlie mobile spine 

 or posterior tij) of the lower posterior corner of the 

 preoperculum, all still further enhance tlie resemblance 



" Sometimes, liowever, as in Gohiesox nudiis (LiN., nee Gthi;), there is one spinous ray, iinarticulaled, but flexible at the tip, at the 

 lieginning of the dorsal fin. MUli.eu and Tkoschki. (Mora' Iclithijoloijici.e, Heft. Ill, p. 17) mention two similar spinous rays at the beginning 

 of the dorsal fin in Cliorixochisiuus dente.r. 



With regard to the former speeies, it should be stated, however, tliat llie original specimen of LlNN.EUs's Cyclopterus nuchis {Mus. 

 Ad. Frid., p. F)7, tab. 27, fig. 1) is still preserved in the RoyaJ Museum, and is evidently the same species as that described by GOntiier 

 (Brit. Mitt:, (^it., I''isli., Ill, p. 502) under the name of Gol/icso.r macrophtliatiniis. Several additional specimens of this last species have 

 lieen forwarded to the Royal Museuui from St. Bartholoiricw (W. Indies) by Dr. A. V. Goiis. 



