164 
ACANTHOPTERYGII. GOBIAD.E. 
is a truly formidable creaturej attaining tbe 
length of seven feet, and its hideous, broad, cat- 
like face, and its wide grinning mouth, bristling 
with stout sharp teeth, give it a most revolting 
aspect, while it is endowed with a strength 
and a ferocity conformable to its appearance. 
It is remarkably strong, very active, and 
equally ready to defend itself or attack an enemy. 
It often enters the fishermen’s nets for the 
purpose of plundering them of the entangled 
fish ; and when the fishermen attack it, and it 
cannot dart through the net, it fights like a lion. 
They maul it with hand-spikes, spars, and such 
heavy timber as they may have in the boats ; but 
even when it is landed, and apparently dead, they 
are not quite safe from its bite.” Its teeth re- 
semble the canines and molars of quadrupeds, 
and their strength is so great as to break down 
and crush the hardest shells, and even stones. 
The flesh is excellent, yet such is the prejudice 
with which its ferocious face and long slimy 
body are viewed, that the common people turn 
from it with disgust. 
2. Gobiana. These are remarkable for having 
the ventral fins fully developed, and united, either 
for their whole length, or at their bases, into a 
single hollow disk, shaped more or less like a 
funnel, analogous to that of the soft-finned Cy- 
clopteridce, formed in the same manner, and ap- 
plicable to the same use, that of a sucker, whereby 
they afiix themselves to rocks and other sub- 
stances. The rays of the dorsal (of which there 
is either one or two) are fiexible. The gill-aper- 
ture is small, and these fishes can in consequence 
live a long time out of the water. Some of these 
