184 MURuENOID BLENNY. 



tawny : the mouth turned up, and white within : 

 the jaws are each beset with a double row of 

 sharp teeth: the tongue is obtuse, fleshy, and 

 thick: the fins black, fleshy, and soft: the dorsal 

 and anal equal, and abrupt on the hind part ; 

 and the two first rays of the ventral fins termi- 

 nate in a long bristle. This is not an eatable 

 fish, and it is said that wherever it appears the 

 other fishes retire. 



MURjENOID BLENNY. 



Blennius Muraenoides. B. fusco-cinerascens, subtus albidus, 



pinnis ventralibus miradiatis spinosis minimis. 

 Brownish ash-coloured Blenny, whitish beneath, with very 



small, single-rayed, spiny ventral fins. 

 Blennius Muraenoides. jB. membrana branchiostega triradiata, 



pirinis ventralibus miradiatis spinosis minimis. Lin. Syst. Nat. 



Gmel.p. 1184. 



Body compressed, sword-shaped, smooth, and 

 without visible scales : length about six inches : 

 colour cinereous brown, the head and belly paler : 

 head marked by minute tubercles : front trian-^ 

 guiar, rather convex: mouth oblique: jaws equal, 

 with two rows of teeth : lateral line obscure : vent 

 in the middle of the abdomen : dorsal fin prickly : 

 pectoral and caudal oblong : vent fin equal. Na* 

 tive of the northern seas ? 



