Jordan and Everinann, Fishes of North America. 2217 



teriorly; head broad, low, rounded in profile; mouth large, little oblique; 

 lips thick; teeth on upper jaw in a broad band, those of outer series en- 

 larged, the inner ones minute; teeth on lower jaw in a broad band, the 

 outer row enlarged, but not quite as large as the outer series on upper 

 jaw. Anterior half of trunk scaled, head naked; scales large, strongly 

 ctenoid, smaller on nape and belly. Dorsal spines short, not filamentous; 

 upper rays of pectoral fin silk-like, short, and very slender and flexible, 

 free for nearly their whole length; caudal short. Skull posteriorly much 

 as in Lophof/obius cyprinoides, but the median crest reduced to a slight 

 ridge. Lateral crests very high and closely approximated, rising obliquely 

 outward; the inner crests meeting behind eye, the outer ones forming a 

 very high border about the orbit. Interorbital very narrow and deep, 

 with a median ridge. Coloration that of the rocks, usually granite gray 

 or olivaceous, light or dark, varying from sand color to greenish black, 

 everywhere mottled and marbled with darker and paler, often with brassy 

 or greenish ; a faint dusky spot behind eye ; coloration varying indefinitely 

 with the surroundings; pectorals, dorsals, and caudal generally mottled; 

 anal and ventrals usually plain. Length 3 to 6 inches. Specimens from 

 Pensacola show the following characters : Head 3 (4 in total) ; depth 4 (5). 

 D. VI-10; A. I, 9 ; scales 30 to 38 ; 12 rows of scales from first dorsal down- 

 ward and backward to anal. Scales on nape extremely small, those on 

 sides firm, ctenoid ; first dorsal with an oblique median shade of blackish, 

 the base in front and the distal part light orange; second dorsal dusky at 

 the base, with some spots, its margin light orange; caudal reddish, with 

 dusky cross lines or spots; anal and ventral dusky, yellowish at base in 

 the female ; pectoral olivaceous, yellowish at base, reddish at tip, 2 dark 

 spots on base of pectorals. Form robust. Head rather blunt and heavy, 

 the snout less abruptly decurved than in G. lyricus. Mouth moderate, the 

 jaws equal, the maxillary reaching about to front of pupil, 2f in head. 

 Teeth in moderate bands, the outer series somewhat enlarged. Cheeks 

 full, tumid. Eyes moderate, placed rather high, much broader than the 

 interorbital space. Dorsal spines slender, the first longer than the other, 

 but not filamentous, 1? in head ; caudal rounded, 1 in head ; upper rays of 

 pectorals silk-like, the fin somewhat longer than the ventral, 1 in head. 

 Color in life, very deep olive green, the back and sides obscurely barred and 

 much marbled with different shades of olive green ; cheeks with dark mark- 

 ings, forming reticulations around pale spots ; whole under part of head 

 blackish in the males, yellowish in the females. Tropical seas ; universally 

 distributed and almost everywhere common, lurking among stones or on 

 sand in shallow water, or in rock pools, moving very quickly when dis- 

 turbed; north on our coast to Carolina and Gulf of California. The 

 commonest of all shore fishes in tropical America. Among our species it 

 seems to be the one most nearly related to the European Gobius niger, and 

 it may, therefore, be held to represent the subgenus Gobius, if our other 

 species be placed in different subgenera. Perhaps all the others will 

 ultimately be removed from Gobius. 

 Gobius soporator, CUVIEK & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., XH, 56, 1837, Martinique; 



GUNTHEK, Cat. Fish.., m, 26, 549, 1861 ; POET, Enumeratio, 124, 1876; JORDAN & GILBERT, 



Synopsis, 634, 1883. 



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