ELE0TE1S. 



Fam. 11. GOBIID^E. 



Mouth protractile, the maxillaries excluded from the oral border. 

 Lower pharyngeal bones separate. Two nostrils on each side. Sub- 

 orbital arch ligamentous or absent. Gill-membranes more or less 

 broadly attached to isthmus. Scapula and coracoid more or less 

 reduced or even vestigial ; pterygials large, 4 or 5 in number, forming 

 together a thin plate which is in contact with or narrowly separated 

 from the clavicle ; one or two of the pterygials in contact with the 

 coracoid. Ventral fins thoracic, with a feeble spine and 4 or 5 branched 

 rays, often united to form a sucking disk. Anterior part of dorsal fin 

 composed of slender, flexible, non-articulated, simple rays. No lateral 

 line. A more or less developed anal papilla, larger in the males. All 

 or most of the prsecaudal vertebra? with transverse processes bearing the 

 ribs. Air-bladder often absent. 



Cosmopolitan. Mostly marine or occurring in both salt and fresh 

 water. 



Synopsis of the Genera. 



I. Ventral fins distinct ; two dorsal fins . . 1. Eleolris, Gron., p. 7. 



II. Ventrals united into a disk, which is not adherent to the belly. 



Two dorsal fins ; no barbels 2. Gobius, Art., p. 22. 



Two dorsal fins; a pair of nasal and a pair of 



mental barbels 3. Nematogohius, Blgr., p. 40. 



A single dorsal fin 4. Gohieides, Lacep., p. 41. 



III. Ventrals united into a disk, which is more or less adherent to the belly ; 



two dorsal fins. 

 Body scaly; movable, slender teeth on the Lips . 5. Sicydium, C. & V., p. 42. 

 Body naked, or with the posterior part scaly ; 



jaws with a single series of fixed teeth . . 6. Levtipes, Gthr., p. 46. 



1. ELEOTRIS. 

 Grouov. Mus. Ichthyol. p. 16 (1754), part. ; Guv. & Val. Hist. Poiss. xii. p. 217 



(1837) ; Gtinth. Cat. Fish. iii. p. 105 (1861) ; Bouleng. Fish. Nile, p. 537 



(1907). 

 Culms, Bleek. Nat. Tijdschr. Nederl. Ind. xi. 1856, p. 411. 

 Butis, Bleek. t. c. p. 412. 

 Opldocara (Gill), Bleek. Arch. Neerl. ix. 1874, p. 303. 



Teeth small, conical, with or without curved canines. Two dorsal 

 fins, the anterior with 5 to 8 flexible spines, the posterior with one 



