2230 Bulletin 4.7, United States National Museum. 



2558. GOBIUS OCEAMCFS, Pallas. 



(ESMERALDA; ENDORMI filtfERAUDE; BACALHAO SAHARA.) 



Head 4 to 6; depth 6 to 8i; eye 4 to 5 in head; A-entral 6 to 6j 

 pectorals 5| to 6i. D. VI-14. A. I, 14 or 15; scales about 65. Body 

 extremely elongate; head very short; upper part of opercle scaled, head 

 otherwise naked. Scales on body very small, becoming much larger 

 behind. All the dorsal spines more or less filamentous; caudal fin nearly 

 half length of rest of body. Skull behind eye broad and short, its length 

 \\ in width, no decided ridges nor crests; lateral crests large and stout 

 behind, minute forward ; interorbital area narroAv, deeply grooved, with 

 a median ridge. Color in spirits, reddish olive; a distinct, round, black- 

 ish blotch below spinous dorsal, twice as large as orbit; an indistinct 

 dusky shade along middle of sides, terminating in a dusky blotch on 

 base of caudal ; middle of sides with a series of marks, formed by very 

 veiny lines widely diverging backward ; a similar narrow line from eye 

 to maxillary, and 1 from eye backward to upper angle of preopercle; evi- 

 dent traces of the emerald spot at base of tongue ; 2 small dark spots on 

 first dorsal spine; spinous dorsal dusky, with a light and dusky streak at 

 base; soft dorsal dusky, a light (bluish in life) area behind each ray; 

 anterior rays barred with light and dark ; anal and ventrals whitish (prob- 

 ably blue in life), the ventrals without dark markings; pectorals dusky, 

 the base lighter, and with some indistinct dusky bars ; a dusky half bar 

 on the upper part of the axil; base of tongue tuberculate, and shining 

 with bright blue and green reflections like a precious stone (hence the 

 names smaragdus, esmeralda, etc.), this color fading in spirits. Vertebra* 

 elongate, 11 + 15 = 26. Length a foot. South Atlantic and Gulf coasts 

 of the United States and southward through the West Indies; not rare, 

 perhaps intergrading with the preceding. Here described from a speci- 

 men 11 inches long, taken by Dr. Gilbert in Charleston Harbor, (oceanicus, 

 ocean.) 



Gobius cauda longissima, acuminata, GRONOW, Zooph., 82, No. 277, pi. 4, fig. 4, 1763, locality 

 unknown. 



Gobius oceanicus, PALLAS, Spicilegia, vin, 4, 1769, locality unknown ; after GRONOW ; JOR- 

 DAN & ElGENMANN, I. C, 497. 



Gobius lanceolatus, BLOCK, Fische Deutschlands, n, 8, pi. 38, fig. 1, 1783, Martinique, 

 figure probably from PLUMIER; CUVIER & VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xn, 114, 

 1837; POEY, Synopsis, 393, 1868. 



Gobius bacalaus, CUVIER &, VALENCIENNES, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xn, 119, 1837, Surinam (Coll. 

 Le VaUiant) ; Cayenne (Coll. Richard) ; Cuba (Coll. Poey). 



Gobionellus oceanicus, JORDAN &, GILBERT, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1882, 613; JORDAN <fc GIL- 

 BERT, Synopsis, 636, 1833. 



Subgenus LYTHRYPNUS, Jordan <fc Evermann. 

 2559. GOBIUS DALLI, Gilbert. 



Head 3; depth 4. D. VI-17; A. 14; scales 40. Body short, com- 

 pressed, resembling MicrogoMus. Head high, mouth moderate, very 

 oblique; upper pectoral rays normal; scales ctenoid, of moderate size; 

 anterior dorsal spines much produced. Mouth very oblique, the maxillary 



