156 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 
Length, 30°0. 
Fin rays, D. 114.18; P..20; V.4; A. 105; C. 20. 
From the extreme difficulty in counting the rays in this species, a great variety has arisen 
among different describers. According to 
Prcx, D. 146); Pi — ees TAL 123": iC 
Mircuitt, OD. 125 —8 or 93 PL 19 V4 A103 = (C: 
STORER, D 120.07 or 18 Pe 19 VAAL E00! 
Guve et VA. D.192).21 29 135k. 20K Vind Ard O Cag: 
I have noticed this fish most abundantly in the market in February and March. It is 
caught on the coast, im company with the common cod. It feeds on various marine shells, 
and affords a very savory food. I have employed the English name of Eel-pout, which is 
applied to its congener the Z. viviparus, to designate this fish. It is called, absurdly enough, 
by the fishermen, Ling and Conger-eel. According to Cuvier, this species has one hundred 
and thirty-seven vertebra. 
THE BORDERED EEL-POUT. 
'ZOARCES FIMBRIATUS. 
PLATE XVI. FIG. 44. 
The Fringed Blenny, B. ciliatus. Mitcuttt, Lit. and Phil. Soc. Vol. 1, p. 374, pl. 1, fig. 6. 
La Zoarces frangé, Z. fimbriatus. Cuv. et Vat. Hist. des Poiss. Vol. 11, p. 468. 
Characteristics. Head greenish brown. Body and tail salmon-colored. Dorsal fin dark green, 
margined with yellowish. Length 18 — 20 inches. 
Description. Form of the head and body similar to the preceding, smooth and scaleless. 
Teeth on the sides of the jaw, large, distant, obtusely conical, and sufficiently translucent to 
permit the central vascularity to be seen. In front there are two rows; the outer row con- 
sisting of five on each side, projecting outwardly ; and both rows composed of smaller teeth 
than those on the sides. In the upper jaw, the teeth are more acute, subequal, except the 
two anterior, which are slightly longer ; behind these is a short series of minute teeth. The 
pharyngeal teeth small and acute, and ranged in transverse series. ‘Tongue broad and smooth. 
Branchial rays six. 
The dorsal fin commences above, and slightly in advance of the ventrals ; it contains ninety- 
five distinct rays, enveloped in a thick membrane ; then follow sixteen low spines; and from 
thence to the tip of the pointed caudal, are twenty-six rays. As the connection between the 
anal and caudal is continuous (as in the preceding species), it is impossible to say where the 
anal terminates, or the caudal fin proper begins. The anal, counted to the extreme tip of the 
tail, contains one hundred and twenty-five rays. On the supposition that those rays which 
in other species constitute the caudal fin amount to twenty on each side, we would have for 
