GOBIES AND LUMP-SUCKERS — SCULPINS 



349 



Gobies and Another section of the spiny -finned group is represented by the 



Lump-Suckers. sm all fishes commonly known as gobies (Gobiidce), in many of which 

 the pelvic fins coalesce to form a suctorial disc by means of which these fishes are 

 enabled to adhere to pebbles and other objects. These fishes are most numerously 

 represented in tropical seas, but many of them are inhabitants of brackish waters, 

 while others are found in rivers and lakes. The commonest species on the British 

 coasts are the rock-goby (Gobius niger), the single-spotted G. minutus, and the 

 two-spotted G. rutheTisparri. The mud-skippers (Perioplithalmus), referred to in 

 the preceding chapter, are members of the goby family. 



The sucker-like disc formed by the coalesced pelvic fins of the gobies is 

 found more fully developed in the lump-suckers (Cyclopteridce), which, although 

 natives of the north temperate and Arctic zones, may be appropriately noticed 

 here. They are characterised by the clumsy form of the thick and oblong body, 



LUMP SUCKER 



Sculpins. 



which is either naked or ornamented with tubercles. The pelvic fins are quite 

 rudimentary, and the adhesive sucker, of which their remnants form the base, is 

 so powerful that by its aid the lump-sucker (Cyclopterus Vwrnpus) and its relatives 

 can attach themselves very firmly to rocks. 



Another mainly northern type, which may be noticed here on 

 account of its having a representative (G. intermedins) on the coast 

 of Japan, is the genus Coitus, the American members of which are commonly termed 

 sculpins, although that name is used in another sense in England. These fishes, 

 which represent a family, the Cottidce, by themselves, are best known by the 

 European fresh-water "miller's thumb" (G. gobio), but the majority are marine. 

 They range as far north as Greenland, Labrador, and Kamchatka ; and are near 

 relatives of the lump-suckers, from which they differ by the normal character of 

 the pelvic pair of fins, and the comparatively large size of the gill-openings, which 

 are very small in that species. 



