552 



Order Pediculati : the Anglers 



pectoral and ventral fins are longer than in any other of the 

 anglers. The species live in the warm seas, some in very shallow 

 water, others descending to great depths, the deep-sea forms 

 being small and more or less degenerate. These walk along like 

 toads on the sea-bottoms ; the ventrals, being jugular, act as fore 

 legs and the pectorals extend behind them as hind legs. 



The common sea -bat, or diablo, of the West Indies, Ogcocepha- 

 lus vespertilio, is dusky in color with the belly coppery red. 

 It reaches the length of a foot. The angling spine is very short, 

 hidden under the long stiff process of the snout. Farther north 



FIG. 504. Ogcocephalus vespertilio (L.). Florida. 



occurs the short-nosed batfish, Ogcocephalus radiatus, very simi- 

 lar, but with the nostril process, or snout, blunt and short. Zali- 

 eutes elater, with a large black eye-like spot on each side of the 

 back, is found on the west coast of Mexico. In deeper water 

 are species of Halieutichthys in the West Indies and of Halieutaa 

 in Japan. Dibranchus atlanticus has the gills reduced to two 

 pairs. Malthopsis consists of small species, with the rostrum 

 prominent, like a bishop's miter. Two species are found in the 

 Pacific, Malthopsis mitrata in Hawaii and Malthopsis tiarella in 

 Japan. 



And with these dainty freaks of the sea, the results of cen- 

 turies pn centuries of specialization, degeneration, and adapta- 

 tion, we close the long roll-call of the fishes, living and dead 



