FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



451 



even a little warmer, in summer in the southern 

 side of Massachusetts Bay. But in localities 

 where the temperature of the upper few feet rises 

 much higher than this they withdraw to some- 

 what deeper (i. e., cooler) water for the summer 

 (p. 452), working inshore again in the autumn. 



At the other extreme, it is subjected for the 

 coldest part of the year to water as cold as 32°-33°, 

 both in our Gulf, along the Nova Scotian shelf, and 

 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, while it has been 

 reported from water of 31°-32° F. (-0.3° C.) in 

 the bottom of Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. And 

 it seems that even exposure to freezing tempera- 

 ture may not be fatal to it, if not too prolonged, 

 for we find no evidence that these sculpins are 

 ever killed by cold when they are overtaken on the 

 flats in severe freezes, a fate that occasionally 

 overtakes cunners and tautog (pp. 475, 480). But 

 the fact that the geographic range of the longhorn 

 does not reach as far north as that of the short- 

 horn suggests that it is not so well suited as the 

 latter is to very low temperatures continuing 

 throughout the year. 



Off the southern New England coast the short- 

 horn deposits its eggs from late November 

 through January, and perhaps into February, i. e., 

 at the coldest time of the year, with the chief 

 production in late December and January. 91 

 Presumably the spawning season is the same in 

 the Gulf of Maine. Apparently one locality 

 serves as well as another, nor is there any evidence 

 that any particular depth is sought. 



Ripe eggs are about 0.S5 mm. in diameter before 

 being laid, but they swell when they come in 

 contact with the water; they are described as 

 varying in color, from coppery green to reddish 

 brown, orange, or purple. A 12%-inch female, 

 which we examined, taken near Woods Hole on 

 November 18, 1951, contained about 8,000 choco- 

 late brown eggs. They sink and they are so 

 sticky when first laid that they cling together in 

 clumps, or to anything that they may touch; and 

 they continue to adhere during the period of in- 

 cubation, but the surfaces of the eggs that are 

 exposed to the water lose their stickiness after 

 about 24 hours. The egg masses have been found 

 free on the bottom, in empty clamshells or other 

 cavities, or among the branches of the finger sponge 



•' For the most detailed study yet made of the breeding habits of the short- 

 horn, see Morrow, Bull. Bingham Oceanographic Coll., vol. 13, art. 2, 1951, 

 p. 30-36. 



(Chalina) like the eggs of the sea raven (p. 456) M 

 and they are sometimes found thrown up on the 

 beach. 



The young fry have been taken in February and 

 March off southern New England, in April on the 

 eastern part of Georges Bank and in the channel 

 between the latter and Browns Bank. These 

 young stages M have longer cheek spines than the 

 corresponding stages of the shorthorn sculpin 

 (p. 447) they are more slender, and they differ fur- 

 ther in the outline of the dorsal fin, for in the long- 

 horns (if our identifications be correct) this is 

 continuous from end to end, only the largest of 

 them showing a shallow notch between spiny 

 and soft portions, whereas in the shorthorn the two 

 sections are separate from the time the fin first 

 takes definite form. 



Captures of many young fry 1% to 2 inches long 

 in September, and 3 to 3K inches long in February 

 suggest that the longhorn is about 2 to 2)i inches 

 long at one year of age. According to Morrow's 

 studies (based on the otoliths) 9 * longhorns off 

 southern New England average about 6K to 7 

 inches long at 2 years of age; about 10 inches at 

 4 years; and 11 to 12 inches at 6 years. They are 

 mature sexually at 3 years or older. 



General range. — Coastal waters of eastern North 

 America from eastern Newfoundland, 95 and the 

 north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 96 south 

 regularly to New Jersey, and reported to the 

 Atlantic coast of Virginia. 97 



Occurrence in the Gulj of Maine. — This is our 

 commonest sculpin, to be caught anywhere and 

 everywhere along the entire coast line of the Gulf 

 of Maine. We dare venture that there is not a 

 bay, harbor, estuary, or a fishing station from Cape 

 Sable to Cape Cod where it is not to be found. 

 Not only is it more plentiful in most places than 

 its short-horned relative, but it occupies a wider 

 depth zone. It is very abundant in many shoal 

 harbors where it comes up on the flats; it is caught 



»i Warfel and Merriman (Copeia, 1944, p. 198) were the first to report this 

 interesting habit. 



•' The smallest larva we have seen was 13 mm. long, from Georges Bank. 



•* Bull. Bingham Oceanographic Coll., vol. 13, art. 2, 1951, p. 47, table 6. 



'• Trinity Bay, Newfoundland; Kept. Newfoundland Fishery Research 

 Commission, vol. 1, No. 4, 1932, p. 108, sta. 35. 



M Repeated characterizations of this sculpin as ranging to "Labrador" are 

 based on Storer's (Boston Jour. Nat. Hist., vol. 6, 1852, p. 250) report of 2 

 young specimens from some point not specified on the northern shore of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



91 AtbatTost II trawled them In small numbers at 9 stations scattered along 

 the mid belt of the shelf, from the offing of southern Massachusetts to the 

 offing of Delaware Bay, in the months of February, April, July, and Septem- 

 ber, at depths ranging from 11 to 50 fathoms. 



