336 THE SEA SHOBE 



The remarkable Angler Fish (Lophius piscatorius), known 

 also as the Fishing Frog and the Sea Devil (family Lophiidce) is 

 sometimes taken off the coasts of Devon and Cornwall ; and 

 although it cannot be truly described as a littoral species, its struc- 

 ture and habits are so peculiar that it deserves a passing notice. 

 It is an ugly fish, with an enormous head, a short naked body, and 

 a comparatively slender tail. The mouth is very capacious, some- 

 times measuring over a foot from angle to angle, and is directed 

 upwards. The scaleless body is furnished with numerous slender 

 filaments that resemble certain filamentous sea weeds, and these 

 together with the dull colouring of the body generally enable the 

 fish to rest unobserved on the bottom. The front portion of the 

 dorsal fin is on the head and fore part of the body, and consists of 

 a series of six tentacles, three long ones on the top of the head 

 and three shorter just behind them ; and the foremost of these, 

 which is the longest, terminates in a little expansion which is 

 kept in constant movement by the fish. The mouth is armed 

 with rasplike teeth which can be raised or depressed at will, and 

 when raised they are always directed backward ; the eyes are 

 directed upward, and the gill-openings are very small. 



This strange creature habitually rests on the bottom of the sea, 

 disguised by its filamentous appendages and adaptive colouring, 

 dangling the expanded extremity of its first dorsal filament just 

 over its upturned cavernous mouth. It does not swim much, indeed 

 it is at the best but a bad swimmer ; and when it moves it simply 

 shuffles its heavy body along the bottom, gliding between the 

 stones and rocks, where it may remain unobserved, its movements 

 being produced by the action of the tail, and of the paired fins, 

 which are better adapted for walking than for swimming. Unwary 

 fishes, attracted by the dangling of the angler's bait, approach the 

 watchful monster, and while speculating on the nature of the 

 bait, are suddenly engulfed in the capacious mouth, from which 

 there is no escape on account of the backward direction of the 

 teeth. 



The family Trachinidce contains the fishes known popularly as 

 the Stargazers and the Weavers. These are small, carnivorous 

 species, with rather elongated bodies, terminating in tail fins that 

 are not forked. The first dorsal fin is distinct and spinous, and 

 the spines, as well as others that are develeped on the giD-covers, 

 are grooved for the passage of a poisonous fluid that is secreted at 

 their bases. 



