502 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



being thickly speckled with dark brown dots, 

 which are sparser on the lower part of the sides. 



General Range. — Atlantic Coast of North Amer- 

 ica, from southeastern Labrador, the coasts and 

 banks of Newfoundland, and the Gidf of St. 

 Lawrence to Long Island Sound and to the offing 

 of central New Jersey. 89 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — Published 

 records locate this fish in the Bay of Fundy; at 

 Eastport; in Casco Bay; at Portland; in the mouth 

 of the Piscataqua Kiver; at Gloucester; in Marble- 

 head Harbor; at Swampscott; Nahant; and Dor- 

 chester in Boston Harbor; and in the outer waters 

 of Massachusetts Bay; there are specimens in the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology from Trenton, 

 Maine; from outer Boston Harbor; and from near 

 Provincetown. Two were taken in the central 

 basin of the Gulf in July 1931 at a depth of 88-95 

 fathoms; one was trawled by the Atlantis in the 

 deep trough west of Jeffreys Ledge at 72-78 

 fathoms, and another in the southwestern basin 

 of the Gulf off Cape Cod at about 100 fathoms 

 (183 meters), in August 1936; the Albatross 11 

 trawled one on the eastern slope of Nantucket 

 Shoals " at 52 fathoms, in May 1950. And one 

 of the crew of the dragger Eugene H reports the 

 capture of 4 of them on the northeastern part of 

 Georges Bank on October 12, 1951. We have 

 also taken its late larvae and fry in tow nets (11 

 specimens 18 to 40 mm. long) in Massachusetts 



Bay off Boston Harbor; over Jeff erys Bank ; in the 

 trough near the Isles of Shoals; in the western 

 basin a few miles west of Cashes Ledge; off 

 Penobscot Bay; near Mount Desert Island; and 

 in the deep basin off Machias, Maine, in May 

 1915, and in March and April 1920. These 

 localities are sufficiently scattered to show that it 

 is to be found, not only all around the coasts of 

 the Gulf, but on the offshore grounds as well. 



However, it seems to be rare or at least very 

 local, for we have caught few adults ourselves, 

 nor have we seen it brought in by fishing boats. 

 In fact, few of the fishermen of whom we have 

 inquired have been aware of its existence, a fact 

 no doubt associated with its burrowing habit. 

 And it has not been reported as yet from Browns 

 Bank though it is to be expected there. 



Following its range to the eastward and north- 

 ward, we find it described as "rather common" 

 all along Nova Scotia (taken at 60 fathoms on 

 Western Bank off Halifax) ; 91 it has been reported 

 from a number of stations on the eastern half of 

 the Grand Banks region, from the southern and 

 southeastern coasts of Newfoundland, and from 

 the outer Labrador coast some 20 miles north of 

 the Strait of Belle Isle (see footnote 89, p. 502); 

 also within the Gulf of St. Lawrence from the 

 Bay of Chaleur in the southwest, 92 and from the 

 entrance to the Strait of Belle Isle in the north- 

 east. 93 



THE WOLFFISHES. FAMILY ANARHICHADIDAE 



The wolffisb.es are closely allied to the blennies, 

 and like the latter they have a single long spiny 

 dorsal fin running the whole length of the back 

 from the nape of the neck. But the presence of 

 large molar teeth and canine tusks, with their 

 total lack of ventral fins and the fact that all but 

 the last 10 or 12 of their dorsal fin spines are soft 

 and flexible at the tips, instead of stiff justify a 

 separate family for them. They are much larger 

 fish than any of our blenny tribe. Two species 



" The most northern locality-record which we have found is for its drifting 

 larvae off the outer coast of Labrador, about 20 miles north of Belle Isle 

 (Kept. Newfoundland Fish. Res. Lab., vol. 2, No. 3, 1935, p. 79, Sta. 422); 

 the most southern are for one trawled by the Albatross II off northern New 

 Jersey, lat. 40°04' N., long. 73°32' W., August 1936, at 35 fathoms; and of 

 another dredged by the Atlantis 30 miles farther south Oat. 39°31' N., long. 

 72°10' W.) between 245 and 325 fathoms, that same year. 



» Lat. 40°05' N., lone. 69°22' W. 



occur in the Gulf of Maine, one, the wolffish, 

 commonly; the other, the spotted wolffish, only 

 as a stray from the north. Another cold water 

 species, Anarhichas latifrons, has been recorded 

 repeatedly from Nova Scotian waters, hence it is 

 to be expected in our Gulf sooner or later though 

 it has not been reported there definitely. It is 

 included in the following Key. 94 



» Vladykov and McKenzie, Proc. Nova Scotian Inst. Sci., vol. 19, 1935, 

 p. 104. 



•» Halkett, Checklist Fishes Canada, 1913, p. 112, "OaspS Bay." 



•i Hept. Newfoundland Fish. Res. Lab., vol. 2, No. 3, 1935, p. 79, Sta. 370. 



" We think It likely that a specimen of A. latifrons crcdl'cd by Bean (Proc. 

 V. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 3, 1S81, p. 82) to "east coast of United States" was 

 actually brought in from Nova Scotian waters rather than that it was caught 

 anywhere west of Cape Sable. See Bigelow and Schroeder (Proc. Boston 

 Soc. Nat. Hist., vol.41, No. 2, 1935, p. 15) for further remarks on this species. 



