DEVELOPMENT AND LIFE HISTORY OF SOME TELEOSTS 
605 
SPAWNING 
This blenny, like the others reported upon in this paper, evidently does not spawn 
all of its eggs at one time, as ova of several different sizes are present in the ovary 
during the spawning period. The length of the spawning season has not been deter- 
mined fully. The young have not been taken, and insufficient adults have been 
collected to make a full determination from the study of the gonads. However, a 
nest was found as early as May 15 (1920), and as late as August 14 (1930). Other 
nests were taken in June and July. Hildebrand and Schrocder (1928) report a nest 
taken May 22 (1922), at Cherrystone Island, Va. From these data it may be con- 
cluded that the spawning season extends at least from May to August. 
The nesting habits of this blenny, so far as known, are identical with those of 
Hypsoblennius hentz. The eggs have been found only in oyster shells, although 
clam and scallop shells probably also are used. A full nest covers the entire inside 
of both valves of an oyster shell. The eggs are firmly attached in a single layer, 
though not always in definite rows, and are well separated by the adhesive disk 
which has a greater diameter than the egg itself. For study, the eggs with the disk 
may be removed from the shell with a sharp instrument, but the disk could not be 
separated from the egg. 
In this species, as noted for Hypsoblennius hentz and Hypleurochilus geminatus, 
the eggs in a nest are not all in the same stage of development, a range from an early 
cleaveage stage to an advanced embryonic stage having been observed. The remarks 
made under the discussion of Hypsoblennius hentz (p. 578) as to whether all the eggs in 
one nest are the product of one female apply equally as well to Chasmodes bosquianus. 
Presumably the nests are always guarded by the male, as already indicated. 
The care of the male is evidently necessary to prevent the destruction of the eggs 
by enemies and to keep them clean and healthy. The eggs in a deserted nest in 
nature were destroyed quickly by the small flat mud crab, Eurypanopeus depressus 
(Smith), that also attacked the eggs of Hypsoblennius hentz (p. 579). Those in two 
other deserted nests, placed in tanks with running water, all died in an advanced 
embryonic stage, having become infested with liydroids and a copepod, Tisbe jurcata 
(Baird). 11 A small percentage of several dozen eggs removed from a nest when in 
rather early developmental stages and placed in glass bowls, in which the water 
was changed twice daily, hatched successfully. 
Spawning in this species, as in Hypsoblennius hentz, apparently takes place 
early in the morning, as only those nests taken before 10 o’clock contained eggs in 
the early cleavage stages. 
DESCRIPTIONS OF THE EGGS AND THE NEWLY HATCHED YOUNG 
Description oj the egg. — The eggs of Chasmodes bosquianus are slightly flattened 
next to the adhesive disk or “foot” which attaches them to the inside of oyster shells 
and possibly to other bivalve mollusks also, as already explained. The eggs of the 
present species are larger than those of the other blennies discussed in the preceding 
pages. The greater axis has a length of 0.93 to 1.1 mm in 27 eggs measured and 
an average length of 1.04 mm. The lesser axis which cannot be measured accurately, 
because the grayish opaque adhesive disk obscures the outline of the egg, has a length 
of about 0.8 to 0.9 mm. The slightly flattened contour of the egg at the place of 
attachment is not shown in the drawings portraying lateral views, as the degree of 
depression could not be determined definitely. 
ii The writers are indebted to Dr. C. B. Wilson, State Teachers College, Westfield, Mass., for this identification. 
