Jordan and Evermann, Fishes of North America. 2343 



2686. ARBACIOSA EOS (Jordan & Gilbert). 



Head 3; depth 5; eye moderate, 1 in interorbital width, which is 

 about 3 in head. D. 6 ; A. 6. Body comparatively short, stout, and nar- 

 row ; the head rather broad, but, like the body, much less depressed than 

 in Gr. erytlirops; width of head less than its length, or 3f in body. Incisors 

 serrate or tricuspid. Pectorals about 4 in head ; ventral disk shorter than 

 head. Distance from base of caudal to front of dorsal 3^ in total length ; 

 caudal truncate. Bright rosy red, sometimes dusky above with black 

 points ; back with 1 to 3 faint dark bars ; 3 dark lines downward and 

 backward from orbit, and usually 1 or 2 more on opercle; caudal usually 

 with a reddish bar at base and a dusky one toward tip ; fins otherwise 

 nearly plain. Pacific coast of Mexico; abundant in rock pools about 

 Mazatlan in company with Arbaciosa zebra, hiding under sea-urchins, 

 especially with Arbacia stellata. Length ! inches. (770? $, sunrise; from 

 the red colors.) 



Gobiesox eos, JORDAN & GILBERT, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 18*1, 360, Mazatlan, Mexico 

 (Coll. Gilbert. Type, No. 29247) ; JORDAN & GILBERT, Bull. U. S. Fish Com. 1882, 108; 

 JORDAN, Proc. Cal. Ac. Sci. 1895, 499. 



Group BLEKKTIODEA. 

 (BLENNIOID FISHES.) 



Body more or less elongate, naked or with scales, large or small ; ven- 

 tral fins small, more or less advanced in position, often wanting, the num- 

 ber of soft rays always less than 5 ; hypercoracoid perforate, the shoulder 

 girdle normally formed; skull not armed with spines; suborbital not 

 developed as a bony stay articulating with the preopercle; pseudobran- 

 chise present; dorsal fin long, its anterior half, and sometimes the whole 

 fin, composed of spines; anal long; tail homocercal, the caudal usually 

 rounded, rarely forked ; vertebrae numerous, especially in the arctic spe- 

 cies. A large group, with ill-defined boundaries, the more primitive forms 

 showing affinities with the Trachinoidea, Cirrhitidce, and other more typical 

 fishes, the extremes very aberrant and passing directly into the Ophidoidea, 

 and other forms lacking spines in the fins. We begin the series with the 

 least modified of the type, the Clinince, from ancestors of which group 

 the others have doubtless descended. 

 a. Caudal fin present, sometimes united to dorsal and anal; dorsal spines connected by 



membrane. 



b. Gill openings not reduced to horizontal slits below the pectoral fins. 

 c. Teeth not developed as coarse molars. 



d. Mouth not vertical. BLENNIID.E, CO. 



dd. Mouth nearly vertical; scales small or wanting; no lateral line; no 

 ventral fins; dorsal composed entirely of slender spines; gill 

 membranes attached to the isthmus ; teeth strong. 



CKYPTACANTHODID.E, cci. 



cc. Teeth developed as coarse molars on vomer, palatines, and sides of lower 

 jaw; dorsal of flexible spines only; scales minute; gill membranes 

 joined to the isthmus; no ventral fins; air bladder present ; no lateral 

 Une> ANARHICHADID^B, ecu. 



