Groundling (Cobitis tænia), the spinous loach, a little cyprinoid fish resembling the loach, from which it is distinguished by a forked erectile spine beneath the eye, and by its more compressed form. It is rare and very local in Britain, frequenting the muddy parts of rivers, habitually keeping close to the bottom. The genus is known to include only two other species.
Groundling
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 5: Friday to Humanitarians, p. 432
Source scan(s): p. 0447