172 GOBIES OF THE PHILIPPINES 



the crest on the nape is more strongly developed than in the orig- 

 inal specimens ; the color bluish slate, the fins all dusky, the first 

 dorsal with a posterior blackish basal spot; no black spots on 

 sides or pectoral base. 



Lophius, from A6<os, a crest. 



Genus 35. PARAGOBIODON Bleeker 



Paragobiodon BLEEKER, Ned. Tijd. Dierk. 4 (1873) 129. 

 Paragobiodon BLEEKER, Arch. Neerl. Sci. Nat. 9 (1874) 309. 



The body oblong ovate, with 22 to 24 firm ctenoid scales in 

 a longitudinal row, the head and nape naked back to first dorsal 

 fin; the height of the thick head less than twice the breadth; 

 the upper jaw may have one row of comparatively stout curved 

 teeth, or two rows, the inner ones very small, but not in several 

 rows as stated by Bleeker, "dentibus maxillibus pluriseriatis 

 fixis;" in the lower jaw there are two rows of teeth of about 

 equal size or outer row the larger, or an outer row of stout 

 teeth with two- inner rows of minute teeth ; two canines behind 

 symphysis; the mouth short and curved; the tongue round 

 pointed ; the gill openings do not extend under base of pectorals ; 

 the small dorsals very close together; the ventrals very short, 

 rounded, forming a cup-shaped disk, the frenum bilobed, unlike 

 the ventrals of any other fish. 



This is a small group of insignificant little gobies, some of 

 them of strange appearance, abounding in the interstices of 

 coral heads and under rocks along shore. 



Key to the Philippine species of Paragobiodon. 



a 1 . Head more or less covered with short hairlike prickles P. echinocephalus. 

 a 2 . Head smooth. 



b\ Color black; pectoral rays 21 or 22 P. melanosomus. 



6 2 . Color yellow; pectoral rays 19 P. xanthosomus. 



76. PARAGOBIODON ECHINOCEPHALUS (Ruppell) 



PLATE 13, FIG. 2 



Gobius echinocephalus RUPPELL, Atlas, Fische des Rothen Meers 

 (1828) 136, pi. 34, fig. 3; GUNTHER, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus. 3 (1861) 

 34; Fische der Siidsee 2 (1876) 175, pi. 108, fig. D; Report Challen- 

 ger, Zoology, 1 (1880) Shore Fishes, 53. 



Paragobiodon echinocephalus BLEEKER, Ned. Tijd. Dierk. 4 (1873) 

 129; JORDAN and SEALE, Fishes of Samoa, Bull. Bur. Fisheries 25 

 (1905) (1906) 397. 



? Paragobiodon melanosomus JORDAN and SEALE, Bull. Bur. Fisheries 

 26 (1907) 45. 



