MAKINE AQUARIUM. 115 



ceivcd the name of "shiner" from boys, who take it 

 sometimes by means of nets. We have here a tender 

 creature which, therefore, requires care in transportation ; 

 but when once domesticated iu an Aquarium, it rivals the 

 BOld-fish of the fresh-water tank in the brilliancy of its glis- 

 tening sides, and is, besides, almost as graceful in outline. 

 It is a fish common along the American coast, but not so 

 much so now as it was twenty years back, when they were 

 canght from the city wharfs and used as bait for larger 

 fish. The extreme length that they reach is about three 



inches. 



The Sticklebacks (G aster -ostein) are fish that can be used 

 for both the fresh water and marine collections. (We have 

 four species on the coast and through the State of New 

 York, as I have mentioned in chapter six). They may be 

 all introduced in a marine Aquarium. 



The following fish (or rather their British representa- 

 tives) have been recommended by English writers on the 

 subject, as fit objects for the marine tank, and are all said 

 to flourish when introduced and judiciously grouped : 



The variegated Goby {G alius akpidotus) which is a curi- 

 ous fish in form and, also, from having no scales, would be 

 a good object for the marine Aquarium, but it is found 

 rarely in the harbor of New York. It reaches only two 

 inches in length. 



The sea-weed Blenny (Blennius fucorum) is very scarce 

 with us ; but bordered eel-pout or fringed Blenny ( Zoarces 

 fimlriatus) is found commonly on our eastern coast in the 

 months of February and March. 



The common New York eel (Avguilla tenuirostris) lives 



