Holt — On the Eggs and Larvce of Teleosteans. 441 



GoBIID^. 



Gobius niger (Linii.)(?) The Black Goby. 

 (PI. XLVII., fig. 12.) 



A post-larval goby, 1 1 mm. long, occurred in the bottom net in Blacksod Bay 

 on the 14th June. 



From the nature of the pigment, I am inclined to refer it to this species. The 

 young of G. mimdus and G. ruthensparri have been long known at St. Andrews, 

 though they cannot as yet be with certainty distinguished in their earlier stages. 

 Their pigmentation is, however, uniformly pale, differing markedly from what is 

 seen in this specimen. The jaw apparatus is fully developed, but no teeth are 

 visible. The head is large, with slightly upturned snout ; the lower projects 

 beyond the upper jaw. A large translucent opercular flap (o/?.) is present; the 

 gill arches are serrated. The large otocyst has a dorsal prominence, and shows 

 considerable resemblance to that of the larval Gobius, figured by me in Ann. and 

 Mag. Nat. Hist.| The clavicle {cl.) is conspicuous : its inferior half is forwardly 

 directed, and is overlapped by the opercular flap {op.). The pectorals are very 

 large and fan-shaped, and the fin-rays are conspicuous, as in the early larva. 



The abdomen is contracted, and tapers off from the middle of its length to the 

 anus (a.), which is somewhat posterior to median. The air-bladder {a. b.) is very 

 conspicuous as a large ovoidal sac, lying in the sub-notochordal region at the top 

 of the abdomen. The marginal fins still persist, but the fin-rays of the permanent 

 second dorsal [d. I.) and ventral [p. v. f.) fins are seen. There is no sign as yet of 

 the first dorsal ; but this fin, judging from the young of other species, is very late 

 in making its appearance in fishes of this genus. The notochord is still visible, 

 but the abundance of pigment renders its structure obscure. The extreme pos- 

 terior end of the caudal region is slightly turned up, and there is a deeply 

 pigmented pyriform hypural lobe {hp.) from which, as from the upturned noto- 

 chordal region, embryonic fin-rays extend into the spatulate caudal fin. There 

 is a considerable pre-anal fin {p. a. /.). The eyes are black, with dark-greenish 

 lights. The surface of the head and body is covered with a dull olive-green 

 pigmentation, which is only absent from the pectoral and marginal fins, opercular 

 flap, and the tips of the jaws. This green colour is somewhat darker on the top 

 of the head and abdomen than elsewhere, and small black chromatophores are 

 distributed pretty thickly over it, except in the upturned caudal region. In 

 addition to this, four bands of reddish-brown stellate chromatophores cross the 

 body at various points. The first descends obliquely from the dorsum, passing 

 just behind the air-bladder to the ventral edge. The second crosses vertically at 



* " On the Ova of Gobius," s. 6, vol. vi., July, 1890, pi. vi., p. 39. 



