258 GOBIOIU.E. 



ACANTHOPTERYGIL GOBIOIDjE. 



THE SPOTTED GOBY. 



FOLEwiG. Thames Fishermen. 



Gobius minutus, Linna;us. 



„ „ Boulereau blanc, Cuvier, Regne Ad. t. ii. p. 243. 



„ „ Spotted Goby, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. iii. p. 290, pi. 41. 



„ „ „ „ Don. Brit. Fish. pi. 38. 



„ „ „ Fi.EM. Brit. An. p. 206, sp. 118. 



The Spotted Goby of Pennant and others, which 

 might rather be termed the Freckled Goby, is not only 

 common on all our sandy shores, where it is constantly to 

 be obtained of the shrimpers in whose nets it is taken, but 

 is also most plentiful in the Thames, where it is known 

 to the fishermen by the names of Polewig, or Pollybait ; 

 the larger sized specimens being at times taken to sea by 

 the line fishermen to be placed on their hooks for bait. 



The length of the adult is usually about three inches ; 

 the head is large ; the eyes near the upper surface closely 

 approximating, the irides blue ; the mouth wide, furnished 

 with numerous small pointed teeth in several rows, curving 

 inwards : the dorsal fins distinct, the rays slender and flexi- 

 ble, the anterior rays of the second dorsal fin rather longer 

 than the posterior ones ; pectoral and ventral fins large ; the 



