386 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



pyloric coeca. Body naked or covered with ctenoid or cycloid 

 scales. No lateral line. Dorsals separate or connected, spinous 

 fin short, of II to VIII flexible spines, or sometimes wanting. 

 Anal usually with a single weak spine, fin similar to soft dorsal. 

 Caudal convex. Ventrals close together, separate or united, each 

 composed of a short spine and 3 or 4 soft rays, inner rays usually 

 longest. Ventrals when united form a sucking-disk, a cross fold 

 of skin at their base completing the cup. 



Carnivorous fishes, mostly of small size, living on the bottom 

 near the shore in warm regions. Some live in fresh water and 

 others live indiscriminately in either fresh or salt water. Many 

 are found buried in the mud of estuaries. Few are large enough 

 to be of much value as food. One species on our coast. 



Genus Gobiosoma Girard. 



The Naked Gobies. 



Gobiosoma bosci (Lacepede). 

 Goby. Variegated Goby. 



Ventrals united, forming a disk free from belly, teeth simple, 

 body and head entirely naked, usually VII dorsal spines, and no 

 barbels. 



I have no examples of this fish, which frequents the shallow 

 grassy bays and inlets along our coast. 



Gobiosoma bosci Bean, Bull. U. S. F. Com., VII, 1887, p. 136. 

 —Moore, Bull. U. S. F. Com., XII, 1892, p. 363. 



Gobius alepidotus Baird, gth An. Rep. Smiths. Inst., 1854, p. 



339- 



Gobiosoma alepidotum Abbott, Geol. N. J., 1868, p. 817. 



Sub-Order DISCOCEPHALI. 



The Remoras. 

 A remarkable group consisting of a single family. 



