FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



455 



than the'teeth of either the long-horned sculpin or 

 of the short-horned sculpin. Its most distinctive 

 features, however, which identif} 7 it at a glance, 

 are the fleshy tabs, simple and branched, on its 

 head; the curiously ragged outline of its first dorsal 

 fin; and the prickly texture of its skin. There is 

 a series of 4 to 8 of these tabs along each side of 

 the lower jaw, three pairs on the top of the snout, 

 and others, variable in number and size, above 

 and in front of the eyes and along the upper jaw. 

 There is also a short but high keel on the top of 

 the snout with a deep hollow behind it, another 

 high ridge above each eye, and a lower one below 

 the eye. These ridges, with about 12 rounded 

 knobs on the crown and several low bosses, and 

 2 short spines on each cheek, give the head a 

 peculiarly bony appearance. 



The first two or three spines of the first dorsal 

 fin are the longest, and the fourth and fifth spines 

 are shorter than those farther back, giving the 

 fin an outline quite unlike that of any other 

 sculpin. And the fin membrane is deeply einargi- 

 nate between every two spines from the third 

 spine backward, but expanded at the tip of each 

 spine as an irregular flap of skin. The margin of 

 the anal fin is similarly, but less deeply scalloped 

 between the rays. Furthermore, the first dorsal 

 fin originates further forward than in any other 

 Gulf of Maine sculpin, i. e., well in front of the 

 gill opening, and it is much longer (16 spines) than 

 the second dorsal (1 spine and 12 rays), whereas 

 in our other sculpins the second dorsal is longer 

 than the first dorsal. The pectorals are fanlike, 

 and the caudal brush-shaped, much as in other 

 sculpins. The ventral fins are fleshy, each with 

 1 spine and 3 soft rays, with the first 2 rays so 

 close that there seems to be only 1 soft ray. 



The entire skin of the sea raven is prickly, 

 belly as well as back, with the prickles largest on 

 the back and along the lateral line; smallest, but 

 still obvious to the touch, on the lower parts of 

 the sides and on the belly. In all other Gulf of 

 Maine sculpins the belly is smooth. 



Color. — The sea raven varies in color from 

 blood red to reddish purple, chocolate, or to yellow- 

 ish brown, but it is invariably paler below than 

 above, and it usually has a yellow belly. Many 

 are plain colored. For instance, one 18 inches 

 long, which we caught off Mount Desert recently, 

 was uniform red chocolate on back and sides. 



But others are variously mottled with a paler or 

 darker cast of the general ground tint, or even 

 with white. The fins are variously barred with 

 light and dark, and the pectorals and anal often 

 are yellow-rayed. 



Size. — One of the largest on record, of 25 inches 

 and 5 pounds, is mentioned by Storer. But this 

 specimen seems to have been in poor condition 

 for we have caught one 22 )i inches long that 

 weighed 7 pounds. Warfel and Merriman 8 men- 

 tion one about 19){ inches long that weighed 5.8 

 pounds inflated with water and 5.3 pounds when 

 emptied. And many sea ravens are 18 to 20 

 inches long. 



Habits. — The sea raven alone, among Gulf of 

 Maine sculpins has the power of inflating its belly 

 with water, like a bladder. If released in this 

 condition it drifts helplessly, feebly waving its 

 tail to and fro, and we cannot say whether it can 

 empty itself again at will like a puffer (which, 

 however, inflates with either air or with water, 

 p. 526) or whether it must await the gradual escape 

 of the water it has swallowed. Another way in 

 which the raven differs from our other sculpins is 

 that it can bite sharply, having larger teeth. 



The raven is quite as voracious as its relatives; 

 it takes any bait and is said to eat whatever 

 invertebrates it finds on the bottom, such as 

 mollusks (both bivalve and univalve), various 

 crustaceans, sea urchins, and worms. Sea ravens 

 also eat fish. Vinal Edwards found herring, launce, 

 sculpins, tautog, silver hake, and both sculpin and 

 sea-raven eggs in sea ravens taken at Woods Hole. 

 Our own experience, confirmed by our various 

 inquiries, is that ravens are to be caught only on 

 rocky ground (which is their chief haunt from 

 Massachusetts Bay northward), pebbles, hard 

 sand, or clay (which they frequent off Cape Cod 

 and on the offshore Banks), never on soft sticky 

 mud. There is no definite upper limit to their 

 vertical wanderings other than the surface. But 

 they are seldom caught within the smaller estu- 

 aries, perhaps never on the tidal flats at any time 

 of year; at least we have never seen them in such 

 situations in Massachusetts Bay, though they are 

 not uncommon there about the off-lying ledges. 

 The majority of them live deeper than a couple of 

 fathoms at all times. On the other hand their 

 usual range extends down only to about 50 



• Copeia, 1944, p. 204. 



