﻿PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



issued Imt'^vA- SsISi ^ff '^* 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Vol. 102 Wwhington : 1952 No, 3310 



KEVIEW OF THE FISHES OF THE BLENNIOID GENUS 

 ECSENIUS, WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF FIVE NEW 

 SPECIES 



By WiLBERT M. Chapman ^ and Leonard P. Schultz 



McCuLLOOii described the fish genus Ecsenius on the basis of a new 

 species, E. mandibularis^ from Australian waters. Norman further 

 defined the genus and indicated that several other species of blennies, 

 formerly referred to Salarias Cuvier, should properly be included 

 in Ecsenius, The present study is a review of the genus and the 

 species included in it. 



Ecsenius is a closely knit genus of 11 known marine species occurring 

 only in the tropical Indo-Pacific faunal area. Within that area 

 species have been foimd from the Ked Sea on the west through the 

 Marshall and the New Hebrides Islands to the Hawaiian Islands on 

 the east and from Formosa on the north to Queensland, Australia, on 

 the south. While this genus occurs in the coral area, in relation to 

 coral heads, it typically occurs not on the shallow reefs but apparently 

 in moderate depths, and this perhaps accounts for the relative scarcity 

 of specimens in ichthyological collections. 



The dentition clearly sets off Ecsenius from all other genera of blen- 

 nies. In the upper jaw are more than 100 tiny, independently movable 

 teeth, a condition typical of the genera Istiblennius Norman and 

 Salarias^ whereas in the lower jaw, the labial teeth are fewer than 50 

 in number, they are much stouter than those above (usually with the 

 one or two teeth on each side farthest from the symphysis somewhat 



' The senior author was aided in these studies by grants in aid from the John Simon 

 Guggenheim, Jr., Memorial Foundation and by the California Academy of Sciences. 



969588—52 1 



