ACANTHOPTERYGIANS : PEDICULATI. 



339 



PEDICULATI, OR ANGLER FAMILY. - - This Family em- 

 braces fishes that are usually without scales, or these are 

 replaced by bony plates, or grains bearing spines, and 

 whose carpel bones are elongated, forming a sort of arm 

 to support the pectorals. Eight genera and about forty 

 species have been described. 



The Genus Lophius has the head and mouth enor- 

 mously large, two dorsals, the anterior rays distant, and 

 forming long filaments bearing fleshy slips. 



The American Angler, Fishing-Frog, or Goose-Fish, 



Fig. 211. 



Angler, or Goose-Fish, L. americanus, Cuv. 



L. americamts, Cuv., of the Atlantic, is from two to three 

 feet long, and attains a weight of seventy pounds in some 

 cases. It is exceedingly voracious, and its enormous 

 mouth enables it to swallow fishes about as large as 

 itself. Large sea-birds, as gulls, are frequently found 

 whole in its stomach. 



The Genus CJiironcctes Hand-Fishes has a com- 

 pressed head and body, vertically cleft mouth, and fins 

 suited to creeping. The species belong mostly to the 

 warm seas. The smooth Chironectes, or Mouse-Fish, C. 

 l&uigatus, Cuv., of the Atlantic coast of the United States, 

 is from two to four inches long. 



