SIXTY-TWO SPECIES OE FISHES FROM LAKE ERIE 
391 
very obtuse; maxillary to pupil; eye almost 4 in head; eyes rather close together; 
preopercular spine very long, hooklike, pointed upward and backward; dorsals con- 
tiguous; anal inserted under fourth ray of soft dorsal; lateral line incomplete; vent 
nearer caudal than tip of snout. 
Pigmentation. — The whitish body is marbled with black chromatophores in a 
pattern similar to Cottus baridii kumlieni of like size, though more broken up. 
21 .5-millimeter stage. — Total length, 21.5; standard length, 17.8; length to vent, 
9.2; length of head, 5.3; greatest depth, 4.3; diameter of eye, 2.0 millimeters. Myo- 
meres, 10 to vent plus 19 behind (incomplete). Dorsal VIII, 17; anal 11; ventrals I, 
3 ; pectorals not quite to vent. 
Pigmentation. — The body is mottled with black as in the preceding stage. The 
definite greenish and reddish colors of adult specimens are not evident in these younger 
stages, except for a slight greenish tinge over the head. 
58. Cottus ricei (Nelson). Rice sculpin. 
RECORD OF CAPTURE 
This species was taken on August 25, 1928, in a Helgoland trawl at 22 meters 
below the surface on Tecumseh Shoals, the first record of its occurrence in Lake Erie 
(M. P. Fish, 1929). Other larger specimens were obtained by C. W. Greene from 
the stomach of a ling, which also was captured near Dunkirk in the same year. 
DESCRIPTION 
This one small sculpin differed from all others in its very long preopercular spine 
hooked backward and upward, complete lateral line, with numerous small prickles 
covering the body above, extending over top of head and between eyes, and with 
similar ones on ventro-lateral aspect of the tail. 
27 .5 -millimeter stage.— Total length, 27.5; standard length, 23.0; length to vent, 
12.0; snout, 2.0; length of head, 6.0; breadth of head, 6.4; greatest depth, 4.1; inter- 
orbital width, 1.4; diameter of eye, 1.5 millimeters. Dorsal VII, 18; anal 15; ventrals 
I, 4; pectorals 15, reaching to anal origin. Head very much depressed, broad and 
flat so that its breadth is greater than its length; outline rather tadpolelike; eyes 
closer together than in Triglopsis specimens; preopercular spine very long, hooked 
backward and upward, with a “buffalolike appearance”; other 3 spines hooked 
downward and the lowest concealed. Above lateral line space covered with stiff 
prickles, hooked backward, largest on either side of dorsal ridge, extending over top 
of head and between eyes. Lateral line complete. 
