HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 91 



FAMILY VIII. GOBID^E. 



Body more or*less elongated. Scales small or entirely wanting. The spines of the 

 dorsal fin slender and flexible. Branchial aperture small. Ventrals, when present, 

 placed in advance of the pectorals. Many viviparous. 



GENUS I. BLENNIUS, Cuv. 



Head rounded and blunt ; body smooth, unctuous, compressed ; a single elongated 

 dorsal fin ; ventral fins placed before the pectorals, and containing generally but two 

 rays, united at their base ; teeth slender, in a single row. 



Blennius serpentinus, Storer. 

 The Snake-shaped Blenny. 

 (Plate XVII. Fig. 1.) 

 Blennius serpentinus, Stoker, Proceedings of Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., m. p. 30, April, 1848. 



Color. Upper part and sides, of a yellowish-brown, with intervening colorless 

 spaces. Abdomen white. The dorsal fins are brownish, with broad, oblique, white 

 bands. Pectorals white, the outer ray brownish. Anal and caudal white with a tinge 

 of yellow. Ventrals white. 



Description. Body very much elongated and compressed. Length of head about 

 one tenth the length of the body; convex upon its posterior portion; blunted ante- 

 riorly ; compressed upon sides. Gape of mouth moderate ; upper jaw the longer ; a 

 single row of minute teeth in each jaw. Lips fleshy. Nostrils tubular, directly in 

 front of eye. Greatest depth of body about one twentieth its length. Eyes obliquely 

 oblong ; their longest diameter equal to one sixth the length of the head. 



The first dorsal fin commences on a line above the pectorals, and is continued to the 

 second dorsal, to which it is connected by a membrane, and terminates anterior to the 

 middle of the fish. Its anterior three spines are the shortest. Posterior to the fifth 

 ray, the fin is of a uniform height throughout, with the exception of the two last 

 rays, which are shorter. 



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