Laguna @arine Laboratory 43 
death specimens change color in water, the green fading to white. All 
specimens examined have five dorsal and five anal rays. 
Arbaciosa rhessodon (Rosa Smith) 
(Plate III, M, N, O) 
Quite common in the tide-pools throughout the range worked over. 
Nowhere found in large numbers, however. 
Family BLENNIDAE 
Heterostichus rostratus Girard. Kelp-Fish. 
(Plate II, G, and Figures 13 and 14) 
Very common in the kelp close to the rocky shores, and in the 
outlying beds. Taken commonly by rod fishermen, who dislike it 
because of its bait-stealing proclivities. 
There are two color types in this species. The one a plain dull 
olive or drab, as shown in the photograph (Figure G), the other 
distinctly marked with longitudinal or transverse bands, much as is 
Gibbonsia evides. The latter form is described by Starks and Morris 
(Marine Fishes of Southern California, p. 232), as having ‘‘ ground 
color light green; yellow on belly and under parts. Back and sides 
with three or four longitudinal dark green stripes, more or less 
broken up into spots, darker toward the edges and outlined with 
white. <A similar stripe running from snout through eye, to upper 
edge of gill opening. * * Dorsal and anal mottled with alternate 
dark green and translucent spots; tip of mandible dark.’’ In the 
transversely banded form of this the colors are the same, but the 
longitudinal bands are obsolete, being broken into eight or nine seec- 
tions forming irregular bars, which extend on the vertical fins form- 
ing dark blotches. At a glance this form might be confused with the 
similar form of Gibbonsia evides (Figure Z), but the forked caudal, 
pointed snout, ete., readily distinguish it. 
Viscera—The abdominal cavity is long and compressed, conform- 
ing to the shape of the fish, as indicated by Figure 13. The liver, as 
shown, is very large, underlying the whole anterior half of the ali- 
mentary canal and associated organs. The gall bladder is closely 
attached, and conspicuous, showing in Figure 13 through the slit 
just in front of E. Posteriorly a large air bladder is present, closely 
adhering to the dorsal wall of the abdominal cavity and extending 
two-thirds of its length. Perhaps the most conspicuous feature, how- 
ever, is the pair of gonads lying dorso-laterally, with posterior ear- 
shaped projections extending into a cavity behind the vent, as shown 
in the figure. The alimentary canal, which is shown diagrammatic. 
ally in Figure 14, is moderately elongate, (four-fifths length of fish), 
