FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 383 



It is a bottom fish, living on mud or sand and confined to considerable depths 

 of water. Normally 25 to 30 fathoms is its upper limit, but the fact that the 

 Grampus specimen just mentioned was taken in a tow net, though close to bottom, 

 proves that it sometimes rises from the ground. 



Nothing is known of its life history or of its breeding habits. 47 



147. Arctic eelpout (Lycodes reticulatus Reinhardt) 

 Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2465. 



Description. — This fish resembles the eelpout in its general appearance and 

 in the arrangement of its fins. The readiest field mark for it is that the dorsal fin 

 is not interrupted, but together with the caudal and anal forms one continuous 

 fin extending around the tip of the tail, and that it originates behind the base of the 

 pectoral instead of in front of it, while the fanlike pectoral fins are even larger, 

 relatively, than those of the eelpout. Furthermore the upper jaw projects far 

 beyond the lower, giving it a distinctive cast of countenance (compare fig. 192 with 

 fig. 190) . The most obvious difference between this Lycodes and the wolf eel (p. 382) 

 is that the former is much the stouter and less elongate of the two, being only 

 about 8 times as long as deep, whereas the wolf eel is 12 or 13 times as long; and 

 the dorsal fin of Lycodes reticulatus originates farther forward — that is, close 

 behind the base of the pectoral instead of over the tip of the latter. 





Fig. 192.— Arctic eelpout (.Lycodes reticulatus) 



Color. — Described as brownish, with a network of black lines on the head and 

 several groups of such lines or solid dark bands on the body. The dorsal fin is 

 dark edged. The young fry are marked with a series of large dark spots on the back 

 and extending out on the dorsal fin. 48 



Size. — -Maximum length about 22 inches. 



General range. — Greenland and Spitzbergen and both sides of the North At- 

 lantic. Off the American coast this Lycodes has been taken on the Grand Banks, 

 on St. Pierre Bank, and off the slope of Banquereau Bank in depths of 82 to 300 

 fathoms; likewise in shoal water in Vineyard Sound and Narragansett Bay. As 

 yet it has not been found within the limits of the Gulf of Maine, but it is to be 

 expected there in view of its occurrence off southern New England. 49 



* 7 A closely allied deep-water species (L. paxiUus Qoode and Bean) has been taken at numerous localities on the continental 

 slope abreast of the Quit and off southern New England in depths of 385 to 904 fathoms. It is separable from the wolf eel by its 

 numerous fin rays (about 118 dorsal and 110 anal) and darker color. Qoode and Bean (1896) describe and illustrate it. 



" See Smitt (Scandinavian Fishes, 1892, p. 608) for the coloration of this genus in general. 



,9 Two other species of Lycodes (L. esmaTki Collett and L. atlanticus Jensen, described by Goode and Bean as L. frigidus 

 Collett) have been trawled in considerable depths on the continental slope abreast of the Gulf of Mairje or on both sides of it, 

 but being deep-water forms they are not to be expected within our limits. For accounts of them and records of their occurrence 

 in this general region we refer the reader to Qoode and Bean (1896). 



102274—25+ 25 



