THE SMOOTH BLENNY. 233 



The viscera of all the fishes pertaining to this family are 

 nearly of the same conformation ; the intestinal canal is 

 equal, ample, and without cseca, and there is no swimming- 

 bladder. 



Genus BLENNIUS. — Body rather elongated, with a 

 single dorsal fin, composed almost entirely of simple and 

 flexible rays; ventral fins placed before the pectorals and 

 formed of two or three rays in each ; teeth on the vomer, 

 and in one row in each jaw ; dorsal and caudal fins separate. 



Blennius pholis.* — The Smooth Blenny. 



Specific Characters. — Dorsal fin abbreviated in the middle ; head 

 smooth and destitute of appendages ; last tooth in each jaw slightly 

 curved and longer than the rest. 



Description. — From a specimen five inches in length. Body be- 

 hind, rather compressed ; head one-fourth of the entire length, tail fin 

 not included ; sides smooth, covered with a mucous secretion ; gill- 

 opening large ; the membrane continued across the throat. Colour 

 very variable, some specimens quite black, others of a deep olive-green, 

 occasionally variegated like marble. Head sloping from the nape to 

 the orbit, from thence suddenly to the lip ; snout short and obtuse ; 

 eye moderate, placed high up ; dorsal fin extending the whole length 

 of the back, commencing in aline over the origin of the ventrals, and 

 ending within a short distance of the base of the caudal rays ; all 

 the ravs simple, the first shorter than the second ; fifth, sixth and se- 

 venth, slightly the longest ; eighth and following ones decreasing to 

 the twelfth, which is the shortest and finest in the whole fin, from the 

 fourteenth to the twenty-eighth nearly even, the remainder a very 

 little shorter ; the last connected to the base of the tail by a mem- 

 brane which passes off from the summit as not to allow the ray to 

 take an erect position. Anal fin commencing in a line under the 

 thirteenth ray of the dorsal, and ending in a line under the last 

 ray of that fin ; first ray shorter than the second, the rest increasing 

 very gradually to the last, which is somewhat shorter and connected 

 to the base of the tail by a membrane similar to that of the last ray 

 of the dorsal, but not extending quite so far towards the short rays 



" Blennius pholis, Yam, Linn., Cuv., Jen., Pen., Don.; Pholis levis, 

 Flem. ; Smooth Blenny, Smooth Shan, Shaimy, Stone-fish. 



