230 



GOBIOID.E. 



A CANTHOPTER YGIL 



GOBIOIDM. 



/-A^^YtY:^. 



THE SHANNY, OR SMOOTH SHAN. 



Blennius pholis, Linn^us. 



,j ,, CuviEE, Regne An. t. ii. p. 238. 



„ „ Smooth Blenny, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 280, pi. 40. 



„ „ „ „ "^ Don. Brit. Fish. pi. 79. 



Pholis IcBvis, Smooth Shan, Flem. p. 207, sp. 123. 



The Shanny ia by no means uncommon at most of the 

 rocky parts of our coast, and is easily distinguished among 

 the Blennies by the want of any appendages on the head ; 

 the line of the dorsal fin is also interrupted. The term 

 Smooth Blenny has not been continued here ; as this name 

 conveys no specific distinction, all the British Blennies being 

 smooth. 



" Destitute of a swimming-bladder, this fish,"" says Mr. 

 Couch, " is confined to the bottom, where it takes up its 

 residence on a rock or stone, from which it rarely wanders 

 far, and beneath which it seeks shelter from ravenous fishes 

 and birds ; for cormorants, with their long and sharp beaks, 

 drao- multitudes of them from these retreats, and devour 

 them. When the tide is receding, many of these fishes 

 hide beneath the stones or in pools, but the larger indivi- 

 duals quit the water, and by the use of the pectoral fins 



