FISHE5S OF NEW YORK 45 



the middle of November. These fish are usually caught with 

 the hook and often entangle themselves in nets, to which they 

 do great damage. They feed on mackerel, whiting and other 

 fishes. 



The oil of the liver is an article of commerce, the flesh is use- 

 ful for fertilizers, and the skin has been used for polishing; on 

 some parts of Cape Cod the fish has been dried for fuel. 



Mitchill mentions the spined dogfish only in one of his minor 



papers. I)e Kay recorded it as common on the New York coast. 



He found remains of the soft clam and scales of fishes in its 



stomach. 



Suborder TECTOSPONDYLI 



Family squaxinidae 



Angel Sharks i 



Genus squatina Dum^ril 



Body flat, depressed as in the rays, the snout obtuse or 



slightly concave in front; nostrils on the front margin of the 



snout with skinny flaps; mouth anterior; teeth in many series, 



conical, pointed, distant; spiracles wide, transverse, behind the 



eyes; gill openings wide, very near each other, partly inferior 



and partly hidden by the pectoral fins; two small, subequal 



dorsal fins on the tail behind the ventrals; no anal fin; caudal 



small, the lower lobe longer than the upper; males with small 



I>rehensile organs; vertebrae tectospondylous. 



22 Squatina squatina (Linnaeus) 

 Angel fish; Monk fish 



Squalus sqiiaUna Lixxaeus, Syst. Nat. ed..X, 233, 1758. 

 Squatina dumcriU De Kay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 363, pi. 62, fig. 203. 1842. 

 Rhina squatina Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. VIII, 430, 1870. 

 Squatina anyelus .Tordax & Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 3."i. 1883. 

 Squatiim squatina Jordan & Evermaxx, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. .j8; 

 Smith, Bull. U. S. F. C. XVII, 89, 1898. 



Body raylike in shape, flat, depressed, its greatest depth less 



than one fourteenth of the total length and about one third of 



the length of the head; caudal peduncle stout; caudal fin small, 



its lower lobe the longer; snout short, rounded; nostrils on its 



front margin, with skinny flaps. Mouth anterior, its width 



