The great family of blennies, Blenniidæ, contains a vast number of species with elongate body, numerous dorsal spines, without suborbital stay or sucking-disk, and the ventrals jugular, where present, and of one spine and less than five soft rays. Most of them are of small size, living about rocks on the sea-shores of all regions. In general they are active fishes, of handsome but dark coloration, and in the different parts of the group is found great variety of structure. The tropical forms differ from those of arctic regions in the much shorter bodies and fewer vertebræ. These forms are most like ordinary fishes in appearance and structure and are doubtless the most primitive. Of the five hundred known species of blennies, we can note only a few of the most prominent. To Clinus and related genera belong many species of the warm seas, scaly and ovoviviparous, at least for the most part. The largest of these is the great kelpfish of the coast of California, Heterostichus rostratus, a food-fish of importance, reaching the length of two feet. Others of this type scarcely exceed two inches. Neoclinus satiricus, also of California, is remarkable for the great length of the upper jaw, which is formed as in Opisthognathus. Its membranes are brightly colored, being edged with bright yellow. Gibbonsia elegans is the pretty "señorita" of the coralline-lined rock-pools of California. Lepisoma nuchipinne, with a fringe of filaments at the nape, is very abundant in rock-pools of the West Indies. The species of Auchenopterus abound in the rock-pools of tropical America. These are very small neatly colored fishes with but one soft ray in the long dorsal fin. Species of Tripterygion, Myxodes, Cristiceps, and other genera abound in the South Pacific.
Fig. 448.—Kelp Blenny, Gibbonsia evides Jordan & Gilbert. San Diego.
Fig. 449.—Blennius cristatus L. Florida.
In Blennius and its relatives the body is scaleless and the slender teeth are arranged like the teeth of a comb. In most species long, fang-like posterior canines are developed in the jaws. Blennius is represented in Europe by many species, Blennius galerita, ocellaris, and basiliscus being among the most common. Certain species inhabit Italian lakes, having assumed a fresh-water habit. The numerous American species mostly belong to other related genera, Chasmodes bosquianus being most common. Blennius yatabei abounds in Japan. In Petroscirtes and its allies the gill-openings are much restricted. The species are mainly Asiatic and Polynesian and are very prettily colored. Petroscirtes elegans and P. trossulus adorn the Japanese rock-pools and others, often deep blue in color, abound in the coral reefs of Polynesia.
Fig. 450.—Rock-skipper, Alticus atlanticus. San Cristobal, Lower Cal.
