FISHES OF NKW YORK 45 



the middle of November. These fish are usually caught with 

 the hook and often entangle themselves in nets, to which they 

 do great damage. They feed on mackerel, whiting and other 

 fishes. 



The oil of the liver is an article of commerce, the flesh is use- 

 ful for fertilizers, and the skin has been used for polishing; on 

 some parts of Cape Cod the fish has been dried for fuel. 



Mitchill mentions the spined dogfish only in one of his minor 

 papers. I)e Kay recorded it as common on the New York coast. 

 Tie found remains of the soft clam and scales of fishes in its 



stomach. 



Suborder TECTOSPONDYLI 



Family SQUATINIDAE 



Angel Sharks 



Genus SQTJATINA Durneril 



Body flat, depressed as in the rays, the snout obtuse or 

 slightly concave in front; nostrils on the front margin of the 

 snout with skinny flaps; mouth anterior; teeth in many series, 

 conical, pointed, distant; spiracles wide, transverse, behind the 

 eyes; gill openings wide, very near each other, partly inferior 

 and partly hidden by the pectoral fins; two small, subequal 

 dorsal fins on the tail behind the ventrals; no anal fin; caudal 

 small, the low r er lobe longer than the upper; males w r ith small 

 prehensile organs; vertebrae tectospondylous. 



22 Squatina squatina (Linnaeus) 

 Angel fish; Monk fish 



Squalus squatina LINNAEUS, Syst. Nat. ed. X, 233, 1758. 

 Sqiiatina dumcrill DE KAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 363, pi. 62, fig. 203, isfj. 

 RMna squatina GUNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mns. VIII, 430, 1870. 

 tiqnatiiia an yd its JORDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. ;).", 18,83. 

 Sqit-atitM, squatina JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. 58; 

 SMITH, Bull. U. S. F. C. XVII, 89, 1898. 



Body raylike in shape, flat, depressed, its greatest depth less 

 than one fourteenth of the total length and about one third of 

 the length of the head; caudal peduncle stout; caudal fin small, 

 its lower lobe the longer; snout short, rounded; nostrils on its 

 front margin, with skinny flaps. Mouth anterior, its width 



