BLENNIUS.] PISCES (OSSEI) ACANTHOPT. 383 



The most common species in the genus. Found on many parts of the 

 coast, lurking beneath stones and sea-weed near low-water mark. Is 

 tenacious of life, and will live for some time out of the water. Said 

 to feed on small Crustacea and marine worms. Spawns in Summer. 



(2. GUNNELLUS, Flem.) 



58. B. Gunnellus, Linn. (Spotted Gunnel.) A row 

 of dark ocellated spots along the base of the dorsal fin. 



B. Gunnellus, Linn. Syst. Nat. torn. i. p. 443. Block, Ichth. pi. 71. 

 f. 1. Don. Brit. Fish. vol. n. pi. 27. Gunnellus Cornubiensium, 

 Will. Hist. Pise. p. 115. c. ix. tab. G. 8. f. 3. G. vulgaris, Flem. 

 Brit. An. p. 207. Spotted Blenny, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. in. 



&210. pi. 35. Id. (Edit. 1812.) vol. m. p. 282. pi. 39. Spotted 

 unnel, or Butter-Fish, Yarr. Brit. Fish. vol. i. p. 239. 



LENGTH. From six to eight, rarely ten, inches. 



DESCRIPT. (Form.) Body elongated, and very much compressed 

 throughout: greatest depth rather exceeding one-eighth of the entire 

 length : thickness half the depth : head and back in one horizontal line ; 

 the former small, not more than one-ninth of the whole length, excluding 

 caudal: snout more pointed than in the true Blennies; mouth small; 

 lower jaw sloping considerably upwards; teeth minute: eyes placed 

 rather high; the space between forming an elevated ridge: nape, be- 

 hind the eyes, a little depressed : dorsal fin commencing a little behind 

 the nape, at a distance from the end of the snout equalling one-eighth of 

 the entire length, and extending quite to the caudal, with which it is 

 continuous; all the rays simple and inarticulated, flexible, of the same 

 height throughout, equalling scarcely more than one-sixth of the depth, 

 projecting a little beyond the connecting membrane : anal commencing 

 at about the middle of the whole length, likewise continuous with the 

 caudal ; the first two rays spinous ; the rest articulated and branched : 

 caudal rounded, with fifteen branched rays, and six simple ones shorter 

 than the others, four above and two below: pectorals short, scarcely more 

 than half the depth, rounded ; all the rays articulated, and, except the 

 first and last, branched : ventrals extremely small, scarcely one-third the 

 length of the pectorals, reduced to a single spine united to one small soft 

 ray of about its own length : 



D. 77; A. 2/40; C. 15, and 6; P. 12; V. 1/1 : 



vent exactly in the middle. (Colours.) Deep olive, with a row of dark 

 ocellated spots, varying in number, but generally from ten to twelve, 

 along the line of the back, extending partly on to the dorsal fin : belly 

 whitish: pectorals yellow. 



Variety. Purple Blenny, Low, Faun. Ore. p. 203. " Reddish purple ; 

 fins lightest Likewise wants the spots on the back ; instead of eleven, 

 has only a single one, and that placed near the beginning of the back 

 fin." Low. 



Not uncommon ; particularly off the coasts of Cornwall and Anglesea. 

 Habits similar to those of the last species. 



