542 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
dark shade across eye to humeral spot; no spot at base of caudal; a dark streak backward a short 
distance on base of pectoral; both dorsals w r ith rows of very small, pale olive dots; a few dots on 
caudal; pectoral plain; anal pale, with a dusky shade along the edge; serrated ventrals dusky. The 
dark color on ventrals and anal is probably found only in the males. 
A single fine specimen, about 2.25 inches long, -type, No. 8364, L. S. Jr. Univ. Mus., was sent by 
Dr. Joseph C. Thompson, for whom the species is named. The genus Gnatholepis, to which it belongs, 
differs from Ctenogobius only in the scaly head. It is equivalent to the later-named genus Hazeus, 
Jordan & Snyder, based on a Japanese species. 
Dr. Thompson gives the following note on this species: 
“Coral-sand colored, with a vertical stripe through eye and lower cheek. 
“Life color: About 10 faint dark squares down back. In these dots so arranged • _ Below 
this yet a light line; another row of blotches on level of eye, extending to tail; below this another 
light line; at level of pectoral 6 large blotches, the darkest; the dots in all these blotches follow parallel 
lines; caudal faintly speckled; dorsal more so; ventral cloudy gray; pectoral color of body, which 
is coral-sand colored; above each pectoral a round fawn-colored spot; anal and lower half of caudal 
tinged with gray. (This portion of body buried in sand when at rest.) Iris yellow, over eye a dark 
brown lid as long as eyeball is deep; not as thick as pupil; below eye extends vertically downward; 
below eye this line is a mite broader, nearly as broad as pupil. 
“ Habit: Lies on bottom, moves very quickly from spot to spot, about 6 inches at a time. When 
seen by a Pomacentrus fuscus it was attacked by it. 
“Locality: Coral sandy bottom, around coral heads, inside Bush Ivey. (Half a dozen seen.) 
Depth of water, 3 feet.” 
Elacatinus oceanops Jordan, new genus and species ( Gobiidse ). Plate 2, fig. 3. 
Head 4.25 in length; depth 4.66; D. vii-i, 12; A. i, 10; eye 3.66 in head; maxillary 3.5; pectoral 
1.1; caudal 1.2; spinous dorsal 1.66; ventral disk 1.66 in head. Body fusiform, lanceolate, little com- 
pressed, covered with firm skin, which is entirely naked; head moderate, not rounded above, the 
interorbital space about equal to the small eye; mouth small, horizontal, inferior, with thick lips, 
resembling the mouth of Rhinichthys, the snout projecting beyond it for a distance equal to half the 
eye; each side of snout with two notching pores; teeth rather strong, sharp, somewhat close-set, 
apparently in two series below and somewhat unequal; maxillary extending to posterior edge of 
pupil; upper jaw scarcely protractile; gill-openings small, separated by a wide isthmus, the opening 
as wide as base of pectoral; skin smooth; lateral line indicated by a series of pores, each with three 
openings in a vertical line; spinous dorsal low, the spines slender, the median longest; soft dorsal and 
anal higher; caudal subtruncate, the median rays a little the longest; ventrals united, short, entirely 
free from the belly; anal papilla very small. 
Color light blue; a narrow, jet-black streak from above eye along bases of dorsal and anal fins 
neai'ly to upper angle of caudal, these broader in some specimens and coalescing into a median dorsal 
stripe; a jet-black stripe through eye above pectoral, broadening in the axil, becoming nearly twice 
width of eye, and extending broad and black to tip of lower half of caudal; body and fins otherwise 
pale, apparently light blue in life. A color sketch by Dr. Thompson shows the dark stripes to be dark 
brown, in life, the dorsal stripe sky-blue, fins pinkish. 
Five specimens, the largest 2 inches long, from the coral reef of Garden Key, collected b.y Dr. 
Joseph C. Thompson. 
Type, No. 8365, L. S. Jr. Univ. Mus.; Cotype, No. 2757, U. S. Fish Commission. 
This species is the type of a distinct genus, Elacatinus, allied to Gobiosoma, but differing in the 
small, inferior, minnow-like mouth and in the form of body. It is one of the handsomest of the gobies, 
its color suggesting that of the Matasami (eye of the sea), Malacantlius lativittatus. 
On this species Dr. Thompson has the following notes: 
“Blue-striped coral fish. Habit, clinging to coral heads; endeavors to shelter in grooves. When 
swimming free from one head to another, it moves a few inches — 2 to 8 — with great rapidity, then 
comes to a perfect halt and alters its course, then moves again, thus: 
“ The dots represent halts. Locality, coral heads, at a depth of 3 to 8 feet- Common.” 
