PLATE XIX. Fig. 3.
_G. pallenti-plumbeus, fusco-reticulatus: corpore elongato, gracili,
undique alepidoto: capite lato, depresso, genis tumidis; his et
rostro punctis valde salientibus, creberrimis, lineis undantibus
dispositis: maxillis æqualibus: dentibus velutinis; externis,
præsertim lateralibus, fortioribus, aculeiformibus; caninis nullis:
oculis parvis, prominulis, intervallo plus quam diametrum æquante:
pinnis dorsalibus subcontiguis, altitudine subæqualibus;
pectoralibus radiis omnibus membranâ inclusis; caudali rolundatâ,
radiis clausis, subacutâ._
D. 8—1/16; A. 1/13; C. 17, &c.; P. 21; V. 1/5.
LONG. unc. 2. lin. 11.
FORM.—Body considerably elongated, and compressed posteriorly: the
greatest depth beneath the first dorsal, equalling rather less than
one-eighth of the entire length: thickness at that point rather less
than the depth. Head broader than the body, very much flattened in
the crown behind the eyes, with the cheeks tumid, and, on the whole,
snake-like in appearance: its length one-fifth of the entire length;
its breadth two-thirds of its own length. Eyes small, but rather
prominent, high in the cheeks, with a diameter scarcely exceeding a
line in length, or about one-sixth that of the head; the space
between a little hollowed out, and nearly a diameter and a half
across. Snout short and obtuse: jaws equal; the gape not quite
reaching to beneath the middle of the orbit. The teeth form a broad
velutine band in each jaw, with those in the outer row strong and
slightly hooked: of these last there are about twenty in the upper,
the lateral ones being stronger than those in front; in the lower
they are not so numerous, and more irregular: none that can be
strictly called canines: likewise no vomerine or palatine teeth.
Pectorals one-sixth of the entire length, oval, with the middle rays
longest; all the rays included in the membrane. Ventrals united;
about two-thirds the length of the pectorals. First dorsal
extending beyond the extremities of the pectorals; the rays very
gradually decreasing in length, the membrane beyond the last also
sloping very gradually down till it nearly reaches the second
dorsal, which it does not quite touch. Rays of the second dorsal
of nearly uniform height, about equalling the longest of those in
the first, also equalling the depth of the body beneath. The last
ray in both these fins is double, as in the last species. The anal
commences beneath the fourth ray of the second dorsal, and
terminates a little sooner than that fin. The caudal, when the
rays are spread, appears rounded; but when closed, somewhat
pointed: it is contained not quite six and a half times in the
entire length. The space between the anal and the caudal is
one-eighth of the same, and one and a half times the depth of the
tail at that part. The usual papilla appears behind the vent.
Skin apparently quite naked everywhere, and without any scales that
are visible, even in the dried state, under a lens. The lateral
line runs straight along the middle, and is marked by a series of
glandular dots placed in threes or fours together vertically at
moderate intervals. Several lines of dots about the head, but the
dots are here closer together, and in some places so salient as to
appear like short filamentous processes: on the cheeks, about the
eyes, and on the front of the snout, these lines undulate in an
irregular manner: there are also two or three short lines of dots
on the gill-cover, and a double row on each side of the lower jaw,
passing obliquely upwards posteriorly, as a boundary to the cheek.
COLOUR.—“Pale lead-colour, coarsely reticulated with brown.”—D.—This
is nearly as it appears also in spirits. The reticulations are finer
on the head, where they are also most distinct: they are likewise
very visible at the base of the pectorals.
Habitat, Chonos Archipelago, South of Chiloe.
Cuvier and Valenciennes seem to have doubted[31] whether there were
really any species in this genus absolutely without scales, though they
have established a section, in which the scales are very minute, and as
it were lost in the skin. The present one, however, appears to be thus
characterized: at least there are no scales which can be detected, even
with the assistance of a lens, and when the skin is suffered to become
dry, in which state they are generally visible, if really present. In
fact, the skin is as smooth and naked as in any of the true Blennies.
This character, combined with others, clearly indicates it to be a new
species; neither will it assimilate with any of the sections in the
“Histoire des Poissons;” but requires to be placed in one by itself, in
which the absence of scales is coupled with an elongated body, and a
caudal, not strictly pointed, but approaching to that form, when the
rays are close.
This species was obtained by Mr. Darwin in the Chonos Archipelago, in
Lowe’s Harbour, S. of Chiloe. It appears to be the first of this genus
brought from the West Coast of America; at least, there are none,
amongst the very numerous species described by Cuvier and Valenciennes,
which are mentioned as belonging to those shores.