On the eyes, the integumentary sense papillae, and the integument of the San Diego blind fish (Typhlogobius Californiensis, Steindachner) / by W. E. Ritter.

  • William Emerson Ritter
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the eyes, the integumentary sense papillae, and the integument of the San Diego blind fish (Typhlogobius Californiensis, Steindachner) / by W. E. Ritter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

    4/72 page 52
    Crystallogobius nilssoni (Dub. & Ker.) Gill (Gobiosoma nilssoni Giinther, Cat. Fishes Brit. Mus., III. 86), a species found on the coast of Norway, from which it is distinguished generically by the obsolete eyes. . . . The eyes are large and conspicuous in C. nilssoni. With reference to the integument of the head and its tactile organs, this author says : On the under side of the head the skin (in a pre- served specimen) lies iu irregular folds, which conform generally to the outlines of the lower jaw, the outer folds reaching the gill openings. Between the lower lip and these folds there is a series of papillae which has its origin a short distance behind the corner of the mouth, the series being slightly separated close behind the symphysis of the lower jaw by two small, rounded flaps. The papillae number about fourteen on either side of the flaps. On the superior surface of the snout, extending pos- teriorly half as far as the termination of the maxillary, the skin is finely wrinkled, and there is on either side a conspicuous flap, which seems to conceal a nostril. The largest specimen examined by Miss Smith was 2f inches in length. The same author ('90, p. 181) publishes a note made by her at San Diego, July 3,1882, on the tenacity of life exhibited by this species, which is so characteristic of it that I quote the passage nearly entire : Three specimens were secured and were placed alive in a two-quart tin pail along with seaweeds, polyzoa, hydroids, living mollusks, a sea-cumber, and a number of small fishes and ci*abs. The living forms in the pail were so crowded and so short of water that all of the fishes except the three pink blind fish had died before I reached home, the drive of twelve miles being over a hilly road for some distance. . . . When re- turning from La Jolla and other points along the seabeach, I have fre- quently carried home the tide-pool species alive in this manner, and invariably the Oligocottus analis, one of the small Cottidae, was more tenacious of life than any of the other species. At this time, however, Oligocottus expired with the rest, leaving the blind fish to claim the honor of being the most hardy of the smaller species of the region. This species is scaleless and exceedingly slippery. I took one of these examples from the pail, when, like an eel, it slipped through my fingers into a barrel of rain water standing near, swimming around in the barrel several times. I then removed it to a clean shallow dish into which I had poured half a cupful of sea sand, together with the small amount of dirty sea water which had covered the medley of animate beings before mentioned. Typhlogobius, still active, tried to bury itself in the sand, but the dish was too shallow, and several efforts proved unavailing. . . .
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3