300 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
fam. gobies ocid,e. 
Body broad , tadpole-like, depressed in front and terete behind. Scales wanting. No distinct lateral line. No 
branched fin-rays. Only one dorsal fin, corresponding to the posterior dorsal fin in the preceding forms, and 
composed of flexible, simple and articulated rays, generally without spinous rays a . Anal fin similar in shape and 
opposed to the dorsal, but shorter ( with fewer rays). Ventral fins proximally distinct, but in front united by a 
dermal fold and behind surrounding a double adhesive disk, the frame of which is formed anteriorly by the pelvic 
bones and posteriorly by the. postclavicular bones, which project downwards behind the former. Fourth branchial 
arch with no lamellce or only one row. Pseudobranchiae present, but most often only rudimentary. Six or five 
branchiostegal rays. Air-bladder and pyloric appendages wanting. No osseous connexion between the suborbital 
ring and the preoperculum. Palatine and vomerine teeth ivanting. Anal papilla present, at least in the 'males. 
It is indeed true, as Gunther has remarked, that, 
in the structure of the ventral disk, these fishes are 
entirely different from Gy clog aster and Cyclopterus ; but 
their relation to the latter in this respect, to a certain 
extent, corresponds to that of Callionymus to the Gobies, 
and they have many striking resemblances to Callio- 
nymus. They may, therefore, with reason retain their 
place in the Gobiomorph series, as was also the opinion 
of Joh. Muller, as cited above. 
On merely external examination we easily find that 
the adhesive disk is of a more complex structure than 
in the preceding family, and is formed of two distinct 
parts, an anterior and a posterior, though the boundary 
between them is not always marked throughout the 
exterior. The skin of the adhesive disk is covered with 
a mosaic of small tubercles, and underneath the skin 
is a well-developed layer of muscular tissue. The an- 
terior margin is formed by the flat, extended rays of 
the ventral fins and the membrane which unites them 
to each other, and anteriorly forms a broad connecting- 
link between the two ventral fins. As in the Dragonets, 
the same membrane posteriorly runs up the lower part 
of the front of the pectoral fins, which in several of 
the forms belonging to this family is also furnished 
with a perpendicular dermal fold lying in front of this 
point. The posterior division of the adhesive disk is 
furnished with a separate dermal rim, which is extended 
by cartilaginous rods exactly resembling fin-rays, and 
the more liable to be mistaken for the latter as the 
rim is turned upwards on each side of the body behind 
the pectoral fin, the fish being thus apparently possessed 
of two pairs of pectoral fins, the one just in front of 
and covering the other. This is due to the fact that, 
just as the pelvis forms the osseous framework of the 
anterior division of the adhesive disk, the posterior di- 
vision is also furnished with an osseous framework, 
which belongs to the lower part of the postclavicular 
bone suspended on each side of the body within the 
shoulder-girdle (the clavicular bones). But the carti- 
laginous rods issue from the cartilaginous disk which 
lies in the skin outside (beneath) the postclavicular bone, 
and thus do not correspond to the rays of either the 
pectoral or the ventral fins. The true rays of the 
ventral fins are four in number, simple and articulated, 
the penultimate ray being the longest ; and in front of 
them we find an unarticulated, discous, spinous ray, 
broad at the top, often triangular and geniculate, and 
hidden in the skin. In a groove in the anterior side 
of the latter Gunther also found a thinner ray con- 
cealed, “quite free and not joined to the pelvic bone." 
The number of ventral rays normal in the Acantho- 
pterygians (6) may thus occur in this family too. 
The shape of the whole head, the position of the 
eyes (though they are further apart), the shape and 
inferior position of the thick-lipped and protrusile mouth, 
and above all, in most of the forms, the mobile spine 
or posterior tip of the lower posterior corner of the 
preoperculum, all still further enhance the resemblance 
a Sometimes, however, as in Gobiesox nudus (Lin., Dec Gthr), there is one spinous ray, unarticulated, but flexible at the tip, at the 
beginning of the dorsal fin. Muller and Troschel ( Horce Ichthyologicce, Heft. Ill, p. 17) mention two similar spinous rays at the beginning 
of the dorsal fin in Chorisochismus dentex. 
With regard to the former species, it should be stated, however, that the original specimen of Linnaeus's Cyclopterus nudus ( Mus . 
Ad. Frid., p. 57, tab. 27, fig. 1) is still preserved in the Royal Museum, and is evidently the same species as that described by Gunther 
{Brit. Mus. Cat., Fish., Ill, p. 502) under the name of Gobiesox macrophthalmus. Several additional specimens of this last species have 
been forwarded to the Royal Museum from St. Bartholomew (W. Indies) by Dr. A. v. Goes. 
