The Dragonets: Callionymidæ.—Remotely allied to the Uranoscopidæ is the interesting family of dragonets, or Callionymidæ. These are small scaleless fishes with flat heads, the preopercle armed with a strong spine, the body bearing a general resemblance to the smaller and smoother Cottidæ. The gill-openings are very small, the ventral fins wide apart. The colors are highly variegated, the fins are high, often filamentous, and the sexes differ much in coloration and in the development of the fins. The species are especially numerous on the shores of Japan, where Callionymus valenciennesi, Callionymus beniteguri, and Calliurichthys japonicus are food-fishes of some slight importance. Others are found in the East Indies, and several large and handsome forms are taken in the Mediterranean. Callionymus draco, the dragonet, or "sculpin," reaches the coast of England. In America but three species have been taken. These are dredged in deep water in the East Indies. In other parts of the world these fantastic little creatures are shore-fishes, creeping about in the shallow bays. Species of Synchiropus, colored like the coral sands, abound in the Polynesian coral reefs.
A fossil species of Callionymus (C. macrocephalus) are found in the Miocene of Croatia.
The family of Rhyacichthyidæ is a small group of Asiatic fishes allied to the Callionymidæ, but less elongate and differing in minor details. They are found not in the sea, but in mountain streams. Rhyacichthys (formerly called by the preoccupied name Platyptera) is the principal genus.
Fig. 446.—Star-gazer, Astroscopus guttatus Abbott. (From life by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt.)
The Trichonontidæ, with wide gill-openings and cycloid scales, are also related to the Callionymidæ. The species are few, small, and confined to the Indian and Australian seas. Another small family closely related to this is the group of Hemerocœtidæ of the same region.
The Dactyloscopidæ.—In this and the preceding families of jugular fishes the ventral rays remain I, 5, as in the typical thoracic forms. In most of the families yet to be described the number is I, 3, a character which separates the little fishes of the family of Dactyloscopidæ from the Uranoscopidæ and Leptoscopidæ. Dactyloscopus tridigitatus is a small fish of the coral sands of Cuba. The other species of this family are found mostly in the West Indies and on the west coast of Mexico. Several genera, Myxodagnus, Gillellus, Dactylagnus, etc., are recognized. In the structure of the shoulder-girdle these species diverge from the star-gazers, approaching the blennies, and their position is intermediate between Trachinidæ and Blenniidæ.
CHAPTER XXIX
THE BLENNIES: BLENNIIDÆ
Fig. 447.—Sarcastic Blenny, Neoclinus satiricus Girard. Monterey.