A History of British Fishes (Suppl.)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1859 Excerpt: ...of the nose to the eye; the lateral line is much less distinct, and the mouth only half as deeply divided. This species has been taken all round the Irish coasts, and is equally common in Scotland. THE BLACK GOBY. CRAIGBYSG DU (OR BLACK ROCK FiSH), Wales. GrJnm niger, Linn. Cnv. ct Valenc. Poiss. t. xii. p. 9., Black Goby, Penn. P.rit. Zool. vol. in. p. 288, pi. 42.,, Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 385., Britannicus, Thomps. Nat. H. of Irel. iii. p. 111. Goriid-. Family Characters.--Two dorsals, the spinous one with slender and flexible rays, more rarely the two parts are united into a single long fin. Thoracic ventrals ordinarily united and infundibuliform, but in some Be para tod by a disk, and in others by the ordinary scaly integument. Head unarmed by serratures or spinous points; branchiostegals five. Bodies scaly. No ca-al expansion of the stomach. No pancreatic caeca. A genital papilla in the males, and sometimes in both sexes. Like the Blennies many pass part of the day out of the water, breathing air, and can make considerable way on moist shores, the pectorals serving for feet. Gorius. Generic Characters.--Ventrals united a little posterior to the pectorals into an oblique funnel-shaped hollow; two dorsals, the first shorter, supported by jointless flexible rays. Head of moderate size, rounded; cheeks convex; eyes approximated and prominent; mandible horizontal; teeth villiform or card-like, often with a stronger exterior row: with or without cutaneous filaments or crests on the head. Scales ciliated. No air-bladder. The species of this genus are easily recognised by the peculiar form of the ventral fins; the short anterior rays, and the long posterior ones, on each side, being united together, making a kind of sucker, with which they ...