494 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



young fish (previously drifting near the surface) 

 sink to the bottom when 30-40 mm. long, an 

 event that takes place in late summer or early 

 autumn in the Gulf of Maine. Nothing definite is 

 known of the rate of growth of the rock eel after 

 its first autumn. 



General range. — Shoal waters on both sides of 

 the North Atlantic; from Hudson Strait to the 

 offing of Delaware Bay on the American coast B5 

 and south to France on the European coast; 

 most numerous north of Cape Cod and north of 

 the English Channel. # 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — This little fish 

 is to be found all around the shores of the Gulf 

 from Nova Scotia to Cape Cod. Thus it is 

 definitely recorded at Yarmouth (Nova Scotia); 

 at various localities on both sides of the Bay of 

 Fundy where it occurs nearly everywhere (writes 

 Dr. Huntsman) ; at half a dozen points along the 

 Maine coast; on Cashes Ledge; at Portsmouth 

 (N. H.), where A. H. Clark of the U. S. National 

 Museum reports it plentiful; at Hampton (re- 

 ported to us by W. F. Clapp); in Ipswich Bay; 

 here and there along the northern shore of Mas- 

 sachusetts Bay: at Cohasset, on the southern 

 shore, where we have seen them; among the 

 stones and boulders of the Gurnet, off Plymouth, 

 where W. F. Clapp informs us that he has found 

 many while shore-collecting for mollusks; also at 

 Provincetown. And doubtless it is more uni- 

 versal than these records indicate, for being of no 

 consequence to the fisherman or to the angler, it 

 comes to notice only when scientific collections 

 are made. 



We have taken its pelagic fry (20-39 mm. long) 

 in our tow nets off Seal Island (Nova Scotia) ; on 

 German Bank; near Mount Desert Island; off 

 Matinicus Island ; and off Ipswich Bay, in April, 

 May, June, and August (a total, however, of only 

 6 stations), while Huntsman states that they are 

 caught in early summer in the Bay of Fundy, 

 evidence that it breeds all around the Gulf from 

 early spring on into the summer. 



Recent records show that rock eels also occur in 

 considerable numbers on Nantucket Shoals, as 

 well as on Georges and Browns Banks, where we 

 have trawled a number, down to 40 fathoms, one 



" In February 1930 Albatross II trawled 2 rock eels, SO and 84 mm. long, in 

 23 fathoms and 33 fathoms, at lat. 3S°32' N., long. 74°24' Y\\, and lat. 3S°18 

 N.,long. 73°51' W. 



as deep, even, as 100 fathoms, 56 where many of 

 them have been found in the stomachs of cod 

 and pollock. 57 They are described as common 

 inshore along outer Nova Scotian waters, eastward 

 from our limits; M and as "rather common" in the 

 southern side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 59 where 

 Huntsman m classes them as characteristic of the 

 warm inshore waters, but where they are exposed 

 to temperatures close to the freezing point of salt 

 water in late winter and in spring. 



They are reported from the southwest coast of 

 Newfoundland; from the estuary of the St. Law- 

 rence near Trois Pistoles, 61 from Anticosti; from 

 the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence; from 

 both shores of the Strait of Belle Isle; from the 

 southern and eastern parts of the Grand Banks : 6S 

 from Bay Bulls, Conception Bay, and Trinity Bay 

 on the east coast of Newfoundland; from Hamilton 

 Inlet on the Atlantic Coast of Labrador, and from 

 Fort Chimo, Ungava Bay, northern Labrador. 



Importance.- — This little fish is of no commercial 

 interest. But it appears to be of some importance 

 on the offshore banks as food for larger fishes. 



Snake blenny Lumpenus lumpretaeformis 

 (Walbaum) 1792 



Serpent blenny 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2438, aa Lumpenus 

 lampetraeformis. 63 



Description. — This is a very slender little fish 

 as its name implies, being only about one-twentieth 

 as deep as it is long, slightly flattened sidewise, 

 with head about one-eighth as long as body to 

 base of caudal fin, large eyes, wide mouth, and 

 blunt snout. It somewhat suggests a launce 

 (p. 4S8) in general form, but is much more slender 

 and eel-like. Also, its rounded tail (that of the 

 launce is forked), its large pectoral fins, spiny 

 dorsal fin (the launce has a soft dorsal only), and 



M One was caught at this depth on the northeastern part of Georges Bank 

 August 5, 1932 (Sohroeder, Bull. 66, Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., 1933, pp. 5-6). 



57 We once found one alive in the mouth of a pollock caught at 34 fathoms 

 on Browns Bank. 



to Vladykov and McKenzie, Proc. Nova Scotian Inst. Sci., vol. 19, 1933, 

 p. 103. 



'» Cox, Contrib. to Canadian Biol. (1918-1920) 1921, p. 112. 



» Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada, Ser. 3, vol. 12, Sect. 4, 1918, p. 63. 



11 Vladykov and Tremblay, Natural. Canad., vol. 62 (Ser. 3, vol. 6), 1935, 

 p. 81). 



" The pelagic brvae. 



u The original spelling of this name by Walbaum (P. Artedi Genera 

 piscium, Ichth., Pt. 3, 1792, p. 184) was lumpretae-formis. 



