228 Field Columbian Museum — Zoology, Vol. V. 



in head; origin of dorsal fin slightly nearer last ray of soft dorsal, 2]/ 2 

 in body ; pectoral nearly equaling length of head ; ventral i y$ in head ; 

 caudal fin rounded; least depth of caudal peduncle if in head. 



Color brownish; sides with 8 or 9 light irregular bars running 

 downward and slightly forward; a dark humeral blotch; a dark bar 

 on base of pectoral ; a dark streak below eye to posterior angle of the 

 mouth ; 2 to 4 dark bands from eye and below eve to posterior margin 

 of preopercle; vertical fins more or less spotted with darker; haired 

 fins without blotches. Length 1 to 2 feet. 



This species usually inhabits salt or brackish water. 



SO. Eleotris Bloch & Schneider. 



Eleotris Bloch <Sr Schneider, Syst. Ichth., 65, 1801. (Type, Gobius 

 pisonis Gmelin.) 



Body elongate, slender, compressed posteriorly; head long, flat- 

 tened above, without spines or crests, and almost entirely scaly ; mouth 

 large, oblique, the lower jaw projecting; lower pharyngeals rather 

 broad, the teeth small, bluntish; preopercle with a small concealed 

 spine below, its tip hooked forward; eyes small, high, anterior; isthmus 

 broad ; ventral fins separate, rays 1,5; scales moderate, mostly ctenoid, 

 45 to 60 in the lateral series; vertebrae about 26. 



A small group of fishes inhabiting warm seas ; a few enter fresh 

 water. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF ELEOTRIS. 

 a. Teeth subequal, those of the inner or outer series page 



enlarged; scales all ctenoid pisonis 228 



aa. Teeth all equal; scales of dorsal and ventral 



regions cvcloid, those on sides ctenoid pictiis 229 



216. Eleotris pisonis (Gmelin). Guavina Tetard; Sleeper. 



Gobius pisonis Gmelin, Syst. Nat., 1206, 1788 (based on Eleotris 

 capite plagioplateo of Gronow; after Marcgrave & Piso, Hist. 



Brasil., iv, 166, 164S; Brazil). 



Eleotris pisonis Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., 

 1898, 2200. 



Streams of the West Indies and of Tropical America, from southern 

 Florida to Brazil. (Vera Cruz; Boca del Rio.) 



Head 3 to 3 J 3 ; depth 4 2 ,; D. vi-i, 8; A. 1, 8; scales 60. Body 

 elongate, not much compressed; head depressed, flat; interorbital 

 area 3 in head; mouth large, maxillary reaching vertical from the 

 pupil ; lower jaw projecting; snout 5 in head; jaws with bands of villi- 

 form teeth, none on vomer and palatines; eye 5K in head; top of 

 head, opercle, and cheeks covered with scales; a stout, concealed spine 



