520 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



seldom that none of the fishermen in Massachu- 

 setts Bay of whom we have inquired have seen or 

 heard of it there, nor further north. In fact there 

 are only two definite records of it in the Gulf of 

 Maine: "Maine" 84 and Cohasset on the south 



shore of Massachusetts Bay, where one (now or 

 formerly in the coUection of the Boston Society 

 of Natural History) was caught by Dr. Owen 

 Bryant. There is also one doubtful record for 

 Kittery, Maine. 85 



THE TRIGGERFISHES. FAMILY BALISTIDAE 



The triggerfishes are very divergent from the 

 ordinary spiny-rayed fishes anatomically, and their 

 external appearance is so characteristic that they 

 are not apt to be mistaken, unless for their close 

 relatives, thefilefishes (p. 521). Tbeir most interest- 

 ing external characteristics are that the first spine 

 of the first dorsal fin is not only very much stouter 

 than the others but it can be locked erect by the 

 second dorsal spine, and that the large bony 

 scales are so close set as to form a hard but flexible 

 armor. Other distinctive features are mentioned 

 below in the description of the Gulf of Maine 

 species. Most of the many species of triggerfishes 

 are purely tropical; it is only as a stray that any 

 member of the family enters into the Gulf of 

 Maine fauna. Most of the tropical species are 

 more or less poisonous if eaten. 



" Storer, Mem. Amer. Acad., N. Ser., vol. 2, 1846, p. 384, gives no definite 

 locality. 



"Holmes (2nd Ann Rept. Nat. Hist. Geol. Maine, Pt. 1, 1862, p. 95), 

 "noticed it while standing on the bridge which connects the Navy Yard at 

 Kittery with one of the islands." 



Triggerfish Balistes carolinensis Gmelin 1789 89 

 Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 1701. 



Description. — The readiest field marks for the 

 triggerfish are its deep, sidewise-flattened body 

 with slender caudal peduncle; its small terminal 

 mouth with both dorsal and ventral profiles of the 

 nose nearly straight; its eye situated so high as to 

 give its face a very peculiar aspect; its large pro- 

 jecting incisor teeth; its very short gill openings 

 wholly above the insertions of the pectorals; the 

 plate armor of thick scales with which its entire 

 head and body are clad ; and especially its unusu- 

 ally stout first dorsal spine. 



The spiny dorsal fin is triangular, with three 

 spines, the first so stout that it is more like a horn, 

 situated close behind the eyes and with the second 

 spine acting as a trigger to lock the first spine 



"Jordan, Evermann, and Clark (Rept. TJ. S. Fish Comm. (1928), Pt. 2, 

 1930, p. 491) prefer the name caprisctis Gmelin, and correctly so, from the 

 strictly nomenclatura] standpoint. But carolinensis is preferable both be- 

 cause it appeared on an earlier page of the same publication, and because the 

 great majority of references to the species have been under that name. 



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Figure 275. — Triggerfish (Balistes carolinensis), New York. From Goode. Drawing by H. L. Todd. 



