88 FISHES OF THE VICINITY OF NEW YORK 



of the head behind the e3^e and the pectoral fin not quite reaching the 

 middle of the soft dorsal. 1 he Striped Sea Robin, which is a somewhat 

 larger fish, is rather pale brownish with a very distinct dark stripe below 

 the lateral line and another parallel with it. which becomes broken 

 posteriorly into a series of brown spots. This species lacks the cross 

 groove on the top of the head. The Sea Robins make grunting noises 

 when caught and perhaps communicate by similar sounds when under 

 water. 



The Flying Gurnard is a southern fish allied to the Sea Robins 

 which is of occasional occurrence in our waters in late summer and fall. 

 Its head is less pointed though similarly encased in mail an I with a very 

 long spine extending backward from the lower part of the gill-cover. 

 The eye is large, the breast fins very long and when folded back reach 

 about to the base of the tail. With their aid the fish makes long leaps 

 above the surface of the water. 



XIV. Gobies, Blennies and others 

 (Gobioidea, Blennioidea, etc.) 

 In this chapter we have gathered together several rather unrelated 

 types of marine fish including only one true Goby, the Naked Goby. 

 This is a very small fish without any scales, with a short blunt head and 

 elongate body, the depth being contained five or six times in the length 

 to the base of the tail fin. There are two separate dorsal fins, the first of 

 seven weak spines and the second of about fourteen soft rays, and there 

 are ten rays in the anaKfin. It is a mottled olivaceous fish found hiding 

 about the bottom, characteristically among seaweed. 



Here we have also placed the ''Remoras" or sucking fishes, flattened 

 species which attach themselves to sharks and other large moving ob- 

 jects by a peculiar sucking disk with cross lamella?, like the slats of a 

 blind, situated on the top of the head. The common Shark Sucker has 



SHARK SUCKER 



an elongate body which is often boldly striped black, white and gray, 

 and the lower jaw produced in a flap. The Remora is a stouter fish 



