290 UNDERWATER GUIDE TO MARINE LIFE 



Habits: The food, as would be indicated by the very heavy, powerful molars, 

 consists mostly of hard-shelled molluscs and crustaceans. Like many other 

 northern fishes, its spawning season is in winter. 



This fish is pugnacious, and care should be taken in approaching it under 

 water. Wolf fishes are mostly sluggish and nocturnal, but don't be fooled by 

 this. They will bite, and very painfully, too. 



Similar Sfecies: Several other species are found in the Atlantic. On the 

 Pacific Coast wolf fishes are found south to Monterey, California, to which 

 point the wolf eel, Anarhichas ocellatus, ranges. 



Ophidioids: Suborder Ophidioidei 



These are degenerate derivatives of the blennoid fishes. There are no spines 

 in any fin except a few in the dorsal. There is usually no definable tail fin, the 

 dorsal and anal fins, with few exceptions, being continuous with it, with no 

 breaks. In this feature, they parallel the true eels but are unlike true eels in 

 possessing large gill openings. Several of them are very similar to the eellike 

 blennies. The distribution of the several families is world-wide from the tropics 

 to the arctic. All of these fishes are bottom-living. They show a tendency toward 

 burrowing habits. 



EELPOUTS: Family Zoarcidae 



The ventral fins of these fishes are small and placed at the throat. They much 

 resemble the eellike blennies in habits and appearance but are larger. They are 

 found in both the Atlantic and Pacific in the arctic and north temperate zones. 

 Some eelpouts give birth to living young. 



SHORE eelpout: Zoarces anguillaris 



Size: Up to 3Vi feet. Uncommon over IVi feet. 



Weight: Up to 12 pounds. 



Distribution: North temperate waters south to Delaware. 



Identification: This is one of the few ophidioids which has discontinuous 

 dorsal and anal fins. 



Habits: The movements of this fish are snakelike. It lives among stones in the 

 tidal zone or in shallow water, and in the summer it moves to cooler waters 

 offshore. It eats large invertebrates and fishes. 



Similar Sfecies: Several West Coast species are found from the arctic south 

 to southern California. 



CUSK EELS: Family Ophidiidae 



These are very similar to eelpouts, but they are usually small and range in the 

 deeper waters of warm or tropical seas. The ventral fins are very far forward, 

 appearing to be two long barbels under the chin, and are used as tactile organs 

 to find food. Though there are several species found the world over, they are 

 apparently not common anywhere— but this may only be a consequence of their 

 secretive habits, which prevent them from being observed. Most species reach 

 a maximum size of 1 foot, but one species of South Africa reaches 5 feet. 



