BLENNID^. ■ 



■ BLENNINM. 



273 



Family 6. BLENNID^. Bknnies. 



Ventral fins very slender, thick, of not more than two 

 or three cylindrical rays *, enveloped in the common 

 skin ; head thick, fat, obtuse ; lips thick, fleshy ; 

 anterior dorsal rays slender, flexible. 



1. SuBFAM. BLENNINyE. 



Dorsal fin with a few spinous and many soft rays. 



Blennius Linn. Mouth small, all the teeth long, conic, 

 equal, and compact, placed in a single row, and 

 generally with a canine tooth on each side. 



Blennius proper, {fig. 81.) Dorsal fin generally deeply 

 emarginate, or cleft in the middle, 

 having a palmated or fimbriated mem- 

 branaceous crest over the eyes ; head 

 thick, obtuse; snout truncate ; mouth 

 very small. 

 B. ocellatus, Bloch, pi. 167. fig. 1. 



Pholis Artedi. Resembling the last, 

 but the dorsal fin very slightly emar- 

 ginate; no crests. 



P. Smyrnensis. Cuv. pi. 325. 



Chasmodes Cuv. (^fig. 81.) Crested, re- 

 sembling Blennius ; but the head is 



more prolonged ; the mouth large ; and the dorsal and 



VOL. II. 



* Excepting Opistognathus. 

 T 



