08 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



THE MANY-SPINED STICKLEBACK. 



Gastehosteus occidentalis. 



PLATE XLII. FIG. 135. — (STATE COLLECTION.) 



L'epinochette de Terra-nmve. Cuv. et Val. Hist. Poiss. Vol. 4, p. 509. 

 7%e Tm->phud StickUbaci, G.pungitaa. Stober, Fishes of Mass. p. 32. 



Characteristics. With more than seven spines in front of the dorsal fin. Tail armed. Length 

 one to two inches. 



Description. Body elongated, compressed, tapering from the origin of the dorsal fin. Head 

 small ; eyes prominent. Nostrils round, simple, and contiguous to the orbits. Mouth ver- 

 tical. Sides of the tail distinctly carinated, with from twelve to fourteen distinct plates. 

 Dorsal spines ten in number, incurved, placed in a groove, and alternately directed to the 

 right or left ; the first is slightly in advance of a line vertical to the base of the pectoral fins. 

 The dorsal fin high, subtriangular, and composed of one stout spine and seven soft rays. 

 Anal fin beneath the preceding, and similar to it in shape, with one spine and nine soft rays. 

 Ventral spines triangular, acute ; a buckler extended into a point behind, between the ventral 

 spines, with from four to six transverse furrows between those spines. Caudal fin elongated, 

 rounded. 



Color. Olive-green, with a tinge of yellow. 



Length, 1-5- 2*0. 



Fin rays, D. 10.1.7; P. 11 ; V. 1 ; A. 1.9; C. 13. 



Although this species differs somewhat in its radial formula from the occidentalis of Cuvier, 

 yet its elongated slender form and carinated tail has led me to refer it to that species. Sub- 

 sequent observations must verify the truth of this conjecture. It will scarcely be referred, I 

 think, to the G. pungitius of Europe. 



This little species is found both in fresh and salt water. I have specimens caught in the 

 harbor of New- York, in company with the Syngnathus fuscus ; and also from a fresh-water 

 pond on the island of New- York, near the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, where the communication 

 with the sea is interrupted during the greater part of the year. 



(EXTRA-LIMITAL.) 



G. mainensis. (Storer, Best. Jour. Vol. 1, p. 464.) Back with seven spines, the last longest; a 



broad oblong serrated plate on the side; with numerous dusky transverse bands. Length two 



inches. Fresh water. Maine. 

 G. niger. (Cut. et Val. Vol. 4, p. 503.) Entirely black; tail armed; ventral spines very long. 33 



lateral plates. Two inches. Newfoundland. 

 G. concinnus. (Richardson, F. B. A. Vol. 3, p. 57.) Body scaleless; tail slightly keeled on the 



sides ; nine dorsal spines. Length an inch and a quarter. Fresh water. Northern Regions. 

 G. inconstans. (Kirtland, Zool. Ohio, p. 191, ined.) 



