148 NEW- YORK FAUNA. 



Color. Edges of the scales golden yellow ; a blackish Ijlue spot on the base of the pectoral, ' 

 and a small spot of the same color on every scale. 



MM. Cuvier and Valenciennes give no farther descriptive details of a species, whicli ranges 

 from Brazil to New- York. They have received it from both places. At Martinique, according 

 to M. Plee, it is considered scarcely fit to eat, from its insipidity. 



FAMILY XIV. GOBID.E. 



Body more or less elongalcd. Scales small, or entirely wanting. The spines of the dorsal 

 Jin slender and. flexible. Branchial aperture small. Vcntrals, when present, jylaced in 

 advance of the pectorals. Many viviparous. 



Obs. This family was established by Cuvier, and comprises about two hundred species, 

 distributed among twenty-nine genera. Almost all the members of this family have such 

 slender and flexible rays, that in one genus, Zoaixes, many ichthyologists have hesitated 

 whether they should not be considered as soft rays. On the oilier hand, in the genus Gun- 

 nellus, the dorsal rays become short, robust and acute spines. They all resemble each other 

 in tlie conformation of their viscera ; the intestinal canal is simple, nearly equal throughout, 

 and without cscal appendages. No air-bladder. 



GENUS BLENNIUS. Cuvier. 



Body elongated. Dorsal fin single, extending along the back, and composed of simple 

 flexible rays. Skin smooth, and without scales. Branchial rays six. Ventral fins placed 

 under the throat, and composed apparently of two rays ; the internal one being often 

 subdivided under the skin. The eyes, a7id occasionally the nape and nostrils, loith fila- 

 ments. Teeth stout, simple, and crowded, in a single row ; often ending ivith a long canine. 



Obs. The males of this genus are recognized by rows of papillse near the aperture of the 

 vas deferens and the urinary bladder. The aperture of the ovaries in the females is small, 

 and placed behind the vent and before the exit of the urinary bladder. They are not vivi- 

 parous, and are of small dimensions. 



