GOBIUS.] PISCES (OSSEI) ACANTHOPT. 385 



oblong basis upon the bones of the palate and nose : body long, a little 

 compressed : skin smooth and slippery : pectorals consisting of eighteen 

 rays : dorsal extending from the hind part of the head almost to the tail ; 

 the rays in the fresh fish not visible : anal extending as far as the 

 dorsal : caudal rounded, of thirteen rays. (Colours.) Sides, back, and fins, 

 of a livid lead-colour; the first two marked downwards with irregular 

 obscure dusky lines: these in diiferent fish have different appearances. 

 Young of a greenish cast." PENN. 



A powerful and ferocious species, most abundant in the northern parts 

 of the globe, where it is said to attain to a larger size than in the British 

 seas. Not unfrequently met with off the coasts of Scotland and York- 

 shire. Feeds on shell-fish and Crustacea, which it readily crushes by 

 means of its strong molars. According to Pennant, is full of roe in 

 February, March, and April, and spawns in May and June. 



GEN. 30. GOBIUS, Linn. 



61. G. niger, Linn. (Black Goby.) Dorsals con- 

 tiguous : lower jaw a very little the longest : distance 

 between the eyes not equal to their diameter. 



G. niger, Linn. Syst. Nat. torn. i. p. 449. Sea-Gudgeon, Will. 

 Hist. Pise. p. 206. tab. N. 12. f. 1. Black Goby, Penn. Brit. 

 Zool. vol. in. p. 213. pi. 38. Yarr. Brit. Fish. vol. i. p. 251. 

 Le Boulereau noir, Cuv. Reg. An. torn. n. p. 243. 



LENGTH. From four to five, rarely six, inches. 



DESCRIPT. (Form.) Elongated, the anterior extremity depressed, the 

 posterior compressed and tapering : depth one-sixth of the entire length ; 

 thickness more than three-fourths of the depth : line of the back nearly 

 straight ; abdominal line bellying a little behind the ventral fins : head 

 rather large, as broad as the body, somewhat more than one-fourth of the 

 whole length : snout blunt and rounded ; gape wide ; lower jaw a very 

 little the longest: fine card-like teeth, in several rows, the inner rows 

 much smaller than the outer : eyes large, placed on the upper part of the 

 head, approximating ; the distance between barely three-fourths of their 

 diameter : gill : opening much contracted : head naked ; marked on the 

 cheeks and before the eyes with several dotted lines, consisting of very 

 minute papillae : from the occiput to the first dorsal a shallow groove : 

 body covered with large scales of a semicircular form, the free edges of 

 which are finely ciliated : lateral line straight along the middle, rather 

 indistinct: first dorsal commencing at one-third of the whole length, 

 excluding caudal ; spines very slender and flexible, a little unequal in 

 height ; fourth longest, equalling three-fourths of the depth ; from the 

 last' ray the membrane passing on, falls gradually till it terminates at the 

 base of the first ray in the second dorsal : this last with fourteen rays, 

 nearly of equal height, the middle ones somewhat exceeding the others, 

 equalling the longest of the spinous rays ; all articulated, and, except the 

 first, branched : anal answering to second dorsal, but commencing a little 

 nearer the tail, and not extending quite so far; rays similar: caudal 

 rounded ; rays branched : pectorals the length of the head, of an oval- 

 oblong form, with the middle rays longest ; all the rays branched : vent- 

 rals forming by their union a funnel-shaped cavity ; rays very unequal ; 

 the central ones, which are longest, somewhat shorter than the pectorals : 



B. 5; D. 614 ; A. 12 ; C. 13, and some short; P. 19 ; V. 10, when united : 



BB 



