FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



533 



#y^o 





Figure 284. — Goosefish (Lophius americanus), oblique-dorsal view, Gulf of Maine specimen. From Bigelow andjwelsh. 



shore it collapses until it is hardly thicker than a 

 skate. Its head is rounded as seen from above, 

 about as broad as it is long, and enormous in 

 comparison with the body, which is so narrow 

 and tapering, back of the pectoral fins as to give 

 the fish a tadpole-like appearance. The most 

 noticeable feature is the enormous mouth, which 

 is directed upward, with the lower jaw projecting 

 so far beyond the upper jaw that most of the 

 lower teeth are freely exposed even when the 

 mouth is closed. 



Both jaws are armed with long, slender, curved 

 teeth, all alike in form but of various sizes, and 

 very sharp, and all the teeth point inward toward 

 the gullet. Some of them may be as much as an 

 inch long in a large fish. The teeth in the lower 

 jaw are in 1 to 3 rows, mostly large, while in the 

 upper jaw the few teeth in the middle (there is a 

 toothless space in the midline) are largest, with a 

 single row of smaller ones flanking them. And 

 there are several rows of thorn-like teeth on the 

 roof of the mouth. The gill openings are behind 

 the pectoral fins and they lack the gill covers that 

 are to be seen in most of the bony fishes. The 

 eyes are on the top of the head, and are directed 

 upward. 



The pectoral fins are exceedingly distinctive, for 

 their bases have the form of thick fleshy arms as 

 already described (p. 532) that bear the fins proper 

 at their outer edge. The finlike parts are fanlike 

 when spread, and so thick-skinned that the rays 

 are hardly visible except in the scalloping of the 

 margins. 



The top of the head bears 3 stiff slender spines 

 (representing the anterior part of the spiny dorsal 



fin) hardly thicker than bristles, the first standing 

 close behind the tip of the snout, the second a 

 little in front of the eyes, the third on the nape of 

 the neck. And while the first and second are 

 movable from recumbent to erect, the third slopes 

 backward with its basal half imbedded in the 

 skin. 36 The relative lengths of these spines vary, 

 but the first two have been about equal in length 

 on most of the fish we have seen, or the second a 

 little the longer, with the third much the shortest 

 of the three. The first spine bears an irregular 

 leaflike flap of skin at its tip, which plays an 

 important role in the daily life of the goosefish as 

 a lure for its prey (p. 536) while the second and 

 third spines have small triangular membranes at 

 their bases, and one or both of them may be 

 fringed with short lobes of skin. Besides these 

 spines there are two well-developed dorsal fins, 

 the first (of 3 spines) situated over the pectorals 

 and the second (10 to 11 rays) on the rear part of 

 the trunk. 



The single anal fin (9 to 10 rays) stands below 

 the second dorsal fin, and the ventral fins (about 

 5 thick rays) are situated on the lower surface of 

 the head, well in front of the pectorals. The 

 caudal fin is small and broom shaped. The dorsal 

 fins have thin delicate membranes. But the 

 caudal, anal, and ventral fins are thick and fleshy, 

 like the pectorals. The skin is scaleless, very 

 smooth and slippery to the touch, and there is a 

 row of fleshy flaps of irregular shape running 

 around the margin of the head and around the 

 edge of the lower jaw, besides smaller tags that 



'• Sometimes more than one-half Is so imbedded. 



