148 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



Color. Edges of the scales golden yellow ; a blackish blue spot on the base of the pectoral, 

 and a small spot of the same color on every scale. 



MM. Cuvier and Valenciennes give no farther descriptive details of a species, which ranges 

 from Brazil to New- York. They have received it from both places. At Martinique, according 

 to M. Plee, it is considered scarcely fit to eat, from its insipidity. 



FAMILY XIV. GOBID^. 



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. 



Obs. This family was established by Cuvier, and comprises about two hundred species, 

 distributed among twenty-nine genera. Almost all the members of this family have such 

 slender and flexible rays, that in one genus, Zoarces, many ichthyologists have hesitated 

 whether they should not be considered as soft rays. On the other hand, in the genus Gun- 

 nellus, the dorsal rays become short, robust and acute spines. They all resemble each other 

 in the conformation of their viscera ; the intestinal canal is simple, nearly equal throughout, 

 and without cjecal appendages. No air-bladder. 



GENUS BLENNIUS. Cuvier. 



Body elongated. Dorsal fin single, extending along the hack, and composed of simple 

 flexible rays. Skin smooth, and without scales. Branchial rays six. Ventral fins placed 

 under the throat, and composed apparently of two rays ; the internal one being often 

 subdivided under the skin. The eyes, and occasionally the nape and nostrils, with fila- 

 ments. Teeth stout, simple, and crowded in a single row ; often ending with a long canine. 



Obs. The males of this genus are recognized by rows of papillae near the aperture of the 

 vas deferens and the urinary bladder. The aperture of the ovaries in the females is small, 

 and placed behind the vent and before the exit of the urinary bladder. They are not vivi- 

 parous, and are of small dimensions. 



