THE FISHES OF ALASKA. 



823 



157. Blennicottus clarki Evermaun A Goldsliorough. new species. 



Head 2.75 in length; depth 5.5; eye 3.3 in head; snout 4.3; dorsal vi-12; anal 12; pectoral 21; ven- 

 tral I, 3; branchiostegals G. 



Body elongate, slightly compre.ssed. tapering gradually from occiput to narrow caudal peduncle, 

 the least depth of caudal peduncle 1.5 in eye and 2 in its length: vent median, much nearer base of 

 anal than base of ventral. 



Head rather large, somewhat depressed ; snout bluntly rounded from above, its anterior prolile gently 

 rounded; mouth horizontal, tip of premaxillary below lower margin of orliit, maxillary reaching vertical 

 at middle of pupil; teeth minute on jaws, those on vomer and palatines barely discernible; nasal 

 spine short, sharp, and weak; interorbital very narrow, not evidently concave, about 4 in eye; occiput 

 with 2 faint ridges, area between them somewhat concave; opercle thickened above, ending liehind 



Fig. 85.— Blemiicottus clarki F.vpmmnn & Goldsljorough, new species. Tj-pe. 



in a round lobe; 2 preopercular spines, the upper simple, stout, ctu-ving upward and inward, covered, 

 with membrane, the lower, on lower limb of preopercle, short, directed downward and forward; nO' 

 evident nasal cirri, and none evident on lateral line; a strong cirrus on tip of maxillary, a small one 

 near base of upper preopercular spine, and a small one on opercular flap, one on shoulder above base 

 of pectoral, rest of body smooth without further cirri or other prickles. 



Origin of dorsal over upper base of pectoral, spines rather high, second, third, and fourth highest, 

 about 1.4 in head, free at tip, the tips slightly club-shaped; interval between spines very short; soft 

 dorsal nearly as high as spinous dorsal, the middle rays highest, about 2 in head; caudal rounded, long 

 and narrow, 1.3 in head; anal similar to soft dorsal; ventrals long and narrow, reaching nearly to vent, 

 2 in head; pectoral broad and falcate, upper rays longest, reaching beyond origin of anal, its base 

 strongly procurrent, parallel with gill-cleft and close behind it, length from lower edge of axil to tip 

 about 1.1 in head. 



Color in alcohol brownish-olivaceous on upper part of side, mottled with small white spots; occipi- 

 tal and interorbital region darkest, region above lateral line light olivaceous; an indistinct darker bar 



