FISHES OK NEW YORK 



735 



De Kay calls this fish The American angler. Tic says it is not 

 an iiiicuimnon fish in New York waters, and that among its 

 popular names are sea devil, fishing frog, bellows fish, goosefish, 

 monktlsh, and various others. The largest one he saAv was 4 feet 

 long. It is not eaten, but is often opened by fishermen for the 

 numerous fishes which are found in its stomach. He says it is 

 found on the south side of Long Island. 



The angler is moderately abundant on the fishing banks in the 

 vicinity of New York city, and small ones are sometimes caught 

 in Gravesend bay. No examples of this fish were obtained by 

 me in Great South bay during three seasons of summer investiga- 

 tions, but it is found sparingly in the ocean adjacent to the bay. 



According to Dr Smith, it is abundant in Vineyard sound, 

 usually from Ap. 1 to July 1, some seasons from April to Novem- 

 ber, or as late as the traps are set. Traps often take boat loads 

 of these fish, which are carried to the shore and put on the land. 

 No other use is made of them, though the flesh is considered very 

 palatable. Those caught in traps are from 4 inches to 4 feet 

 long. The young keep off shore in deep w r ater and are never 

 taken in the seine. The spawn is often found floating in Vine- 

 yard sound. During the fall of 1900, according to Sherwood and 

 Edwards, anglers were very abundant in Great harbor, at 

 Woods Hole Mass, and late in the fall several large ones were 

 washed ashore. The fish are not often seen near Woods Hole, 

 though abundant at Menemsha and Cuttyhunk, where the shores 

 are frequently strewn with their bleached skeletons. 



In Massachusetts bay it is a common resident of the deep 

 waters, often coming to the shores. An individual about 4 

 inches in length was taken off the banks of Newfoundland in 

 1856. This is probably the most northern recorded occurrence 

 of the fish in the western Atlantic, except the unconfirmed state- 

 ment by Pennant of its appearance in Hudson's bay. The angler 

 ranges from North Carolina northward. Mitchill called this fish 

 the sea devil. 



Genus PTEROPHRYXE Gill 



Body smooth or scarcely granular, short, somewhat com- 

 pressed, with tumid abdomen: mouth small, oblique; palate with 



