170 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



THE TWO-SPINED TOAD-FISH. 



Batbachus celaths. 

 PLATE L. FIG. 161, and viewed feom above. —(STATE COLLECTION.) 



Characteristics. Opercle with two spines. Dorsal fins separate. Body mottled with dusky 

 transverse bars. Length one inch. 



Description. Head large, broad, depressed. Body compressed immediately behind the oper- 

 cles. Surface smooth, scaleless ; covered with a thick mucus. Head covered with numerous 

 minute pores, forming irregular series. Lateral line distinct, and near the dorsal outline. 

 Opercle with two acute obvious sj^ines, placed above each other just before the posterior 

 margin ; the superior somewhat longer. Gill apertures small, not descending below the base 

 of the pectorals. Eyes moderately large, vertical. Nostrils small, circular, patent. Mouth 

 large, wide, with numerous minute teeth in the jaws, vomer and palatines. Two or three 

 irregular minute cuticular processes on the anterior part of the upper jaw. 



The first dorsal fin not as high as the second, with three short acute spines connected by a 

 slender membrane, but separated by a short interval from the second, which is long, subequal, 

 and composed of twenty-eight rays, of which the posterior are rather longer ; this fin is co- 

 terminal with the anal. Pectoral fins elongate, lancet-shaped, with the middle longest, and 

 containing eighteen rays. Ventral fins jugular, with three rays ; the middle longest, and all 

 ending in flexible filiform tips. Anal fin subequal, and of eighteen rays. Caudal fin oblong, 

 lanceolate, with fifteen rays. The rays of all the fins are exceedingly delicate, and difficult 

 to be distinguished. 



Color. Head dark olive-brown. Body on the side greenish, pale-colored, with irregular 

 dusky brown transverse bars, which are frequently extended through the vertical fins. 



Length, TO. 



Fin rays, D. 3.28 ; P. 18 ; V. 3 ; A. 23 ; C. 15. 



This little fish, which I have never known to exceed the above dimensions, is usually found 

 on muddy bottoms. It has frequently been brought to me, included between the two valves 

 of an oyster. I should think it abundant in our waters, from the following circumstance : In 

 the summer of 1824, a number of these fish were found in the streets of New- York, after a 

 heavy shower ; and many idle speculations were hazarded in the papers of the day, as to their 

 origin. An eminent ichthyologist of that period spoke of them " as unknown to our waters, 

 " and not described in the books of Ichthyology." " The speculation is an exceedingly curious 

 " one, how fishes could be elevated into the atmosphere, and by what means kept alive after 

 " they are raised." Showers of fish are not uncommon, and are susceptible of an easy solution. 

 They are raised by whirlwinds or water-spouts ; and the tenacity of life, in the species under 

 consideration, accounts for their being found alive. 



