364 



FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



variety of shapes; 2 dorsal fins, whicli are either separate or connected, the spinous 



part less developed than the other, the spines 2 to 8 (rarely .absent); anal 



similar to soft dorsal, usually with a weak spine; caudal rounded or pointed, 



not concave or forked; pectorals large or small; ventrals thoracic, the rays i, 5, 



the fins either close together or united, if the latter a fold of skin across base 



forms a kind of sucking cup. The species now known in the state fall in 4 



genera, as follows: 



Key to the North Carolina genera of gobies. 



i. Ventral fins not united; body covered with large scales Dormitator. 



n. Ventral fins united; scales if present small or moderate. 



a. Dorsal spines 6 Ctenogobius. 



aa. Dorsal spines 7 or 8. 



b. Body more or less scaly, head naked; soft dorsal and anal rays 15 to 17; size minute. 



MiCROGOBIUS. 



bb. Body and head without scales; soft dorsal and anal rays 10 to 14; size small. 



GOBIOSOMA. 



Genus DORMITATOR Gill. Punecas. 



Form rather stout; head broad and flat; mouth small, oblique; no vomerine 

 teeth; preopercle without spine; scales on body and opercles large, ctenoid, those 

 on cheeks small; all fins large, the second dorsal high. Apparently only a single, 

 variable species. {Dormitator, a sleeper.) 



314. DORMITATOR MACULATUS (Bloch). 

 Guavina; Spotted Goby. 



Scioena maculala, Bloch Ichthyologie, pi. 299, fig. 2, 1790; West Indies. 

 Dormitator maculatus, Jordan & Evermann, 1898, p. 2196, pi. cccxxiv, fig. 782. 



Fig. 166. Spotted Goby. Dormitator maculatus. 



Diagnosis. — Body stout, the depth about .33 length; head short and broad, a little more 

 than .25 total length; lower jaw very slightly longer than upper; maxillary extending about to 

 anterior edge of eye; snout blunt, rounded, longer than diameter of the small eye; scales in 

 lateral series about 33, in transverse series 12; dorsal rays vii + i,8 or 9, the posterior soft rays 

 longer than head; anal rays i,9 or 10, the fin somewhat smaller than soft dorsal; caudal broad 

 and rounded; pectorals broad, their length less than head; ventrals reaching to vent. Color: 

 dark gray or brown, with lighter spots; a large black spot above base of pectoral; a dark 



