250 NATURAL HISTORY OF OUR SHORES 



mingled with a growth of sea-weed, the following species 

 will be met with : 



PJiolis Icevis or Elennius pholis (the "Smooth Blenny"), 

 also popularly termed the " Shanney." This pretty little 

 fish is very common. It lurks under stones, in the 

 crevices of rocks, loose joints in the masonry of piers, and 

 all such situations, from almost the highest tide-level to 

 the lowest. It is frequently found out of water, and 

 can live for hours out of its native element. It is 

 about five inches in length. Its colour is a dark 

 green, mottled with black, white, and buff, without any 

 regular disposition of these markings. It is pugnacious, 

 and bites savagely when captured. It breeds about the 

 month of May, and its eggs, which are round, and about the 

 size of small pin heads, are fastened in an even layer to 

 the under side of stones, usually in rock pools. It fre- 

 quently uses its pectoral and pelvic fins as legs, as it were, 

 walking, lizardlike, over the rocks. It is shown in the 

 photo (Fig. 105). 



Gobius paganellus (the "Rock Goby"). This is found 

 in nearly similar situations to the last, but at a lower 

 zone, and more usually under stones in pools than in 

 crevices, and it does not allow itself to be left dry. 

 These are nearly always found in pairs, possibly male and 

 female, for there is usually a difference in markings. 



It does not grow beyond about five inches in length. 

 The colour is olive-green, with buff and reddish mottling. 



The eggs are affixed, like those of the smooth blenny, to 

 the under side of stones, but they are spindle-shaped, and 

 are attached in close-set symmetrical order by one end. 



At first the eggs are colourless, all but the yolk, which 

 shows through the transparent envelope, but as the young 

 develop the eggs appear of a bright, metallic green, owing 

 to the large and conspicuous eyes of the little fishes en- 

 closed, which are of this colour. 



