Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 2351 



isthmus ; orbital cirri minute or wanting ; cheeks scaly. Dorsal fin very 

 long, the posterior rays soft, the 5 anterior spines wider apart than the 

 rest and separated from them by a notch, the first and second spines long- 

 est, rather flexible, the other spines stiff; caudal fin forked; ventrals I, 3; 

 pectorals moderate ; lateral line simple, complete, abruptly curved behind 

 pectorals; air bladder present, large. Size large. Close to Gibbonsia, 

 from which the presence of the air bladder and the form of the caudal 

 separate it. (erspoS, different; drixog, rank; in allusion to the differen- 

 tiation of the anterior dorsal spines.) 



2688. HETEROSTICHTJS ROSTRATUS, Girard. 



(KELPFISH.) 



Head 3* in body; depth 4. D. V-XXXIII, 13; A. II, 34; eye 7 in head; 

 maxillary 2|; pectoral If; ventral 2^; first dorsal spine 4 ; highest ray of 

 soft dorsal 2|- ; third anal ray 2$; caudal 2&. Body much compressed, 

 deepest anteriorly; head slender, compressed and pointed; lower jaw 

 strongly projecting, with thick lip ; maxillary reaching pupil; width of 

 interorbital a little greater than eye; orbital cirrus minute, usually 

 entirely wanting; cheek and upper edge of opercle with small scales, rest 

 of head naked. Origin of dorsal a little in front of the vertical from gill 

 opening; pectoral under third dorsal spine, reaching to below the eleventh 

 or twelfth ; ventrals inserted in front of pectorals in distance equal to 

 length of snout, their tips reaching about of their length beyond base 

 of the pectoral ; soft dorsal higher than spinous, ending slightly anterior 

 to the anal; caudal furcate, the middle rays length of outer. Color 

 translucent, reddish brown, varying to blackish or olive, a series of large 

 irregular light spots along sides below lateral line, continuous with a dis- 

 tinct light bar from eye to edge of opercle, bordered with black above, a 

 similar spot on base of pectoral; an irregular line of large spots following 

 outline of body under dorsal and above anal ; a clear cut white streak from 

 dorsal to tip of snout and continued on lower lip, the hue and pattern of 

 color varying greatly; young examples most variegated ; a translucent 

 spot behind third dorsal spine, generally followed by similar spots for the 

 whole length of the fin. San Francisco to San Diego. The largest of the 

 Clinoid blennies, very abundant in the kelp, with which it agrees in colora- 

 tion. Here described from a specimen, 16 inches in length, from San 

 Francisco market, (rostratus, long-nosed.) 



Heterostichus rostratus, GIRARD, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1854, 143, San Diego, California 

 (Type, No. 284. Coll. A. Cassidy) ; GIRARD, Pac. R. R. Surv., x, Fishes, 26, pi. 13, 1858; 

 GUNTHER, Cat., 261, 1861 ; JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 764, 1883. 



870. GIBBONSIA, Cooper. 



Gibbonsia, COOPER, Proc. Cal. Ac. Nat. Sci., m, 1864, 109 (elegant). 

 Blakea, STEINDACHNER, Ichth. Beitrage, v, 148, 1876 (elegant). 



Body less elongate and compressed, covered with minute cycloid scales, 

 those along lateral line not enlarged; lateral line complete, abruptly 

 decurved behind the pectoral; head somewhat pointed; snout unequal; 

 conical teeth on jaws and vomer, the teeth mostly in single series, except 



