MASTERS OF THE WATER-BONY FISHES 301 



but it also eats molluscs and crustaceans. It has even been known to feed on 

 diving birds or to take ducks and loons From the surface by swimming up under 

 them and grasping them from below. 



The spawning season is in the late spring and summer. Huge masses of pur- 

 plish eggs float at the surface. Breder (1948) reports that these masses some- 

 times weigh as much as 30 pounds or more and measure as much as 1 to 2 feet 

 in width by 40 feet in length. 



Similar Sj)ecies: The West Coast angler, Lophiomus, is smaller than the East 

 Coast form. It ranges south to the equator and is very rare in the eastern Pacific. 

 Its normal haunts are the coasts of eastern Asia. 



FROGFISHES: Family Antennariidae 



These are mostly small tropical fishes, rarelv reaching a maximum length of 

 over a foot. They are somewhat compressed and probably none of them angle 

 in order to capture food. Instead they use their very well-developed ventral and 

 pectoral fins as limbs and stalk their prey as a cat stalks a mouse. The very 

 highly developed protective coloration and form-breaking indentations on the 

 body protect them from being noticed by either prey or their enemies. The 

 teeth and mouth are not as large as they are in the previous family, but these 

 are still very voracious fishes which will eat nearly anything they can swallow. 

 Mostly, they are shore fishes, but some live in the floating seaweed, sargasso. 

 They are common in the East and West Indies. 



SARGAssuM FISH: Histuo histrio—Color Plate 3 



Size: Up to 6 inches. 



Distrihution: Florida to the West Indies. 



Identification: Distinguished from other similar species bv having the first 

 dorsal ray, which is situated on the snout, bifurcate at its tip. The color matches 

 that of sargassum, or sargasso weed. 



Hahits: One of the authors has fed and observed this fish in captivity. It may 

 be presented a small guppy or other live food in the fingers. After stalking to 

 within a third of its body length from the food, the sargassum fish opens its 

 mouth suddenly and the food quickly disappears, drawn into the mouth by a 

 current of water created by the sudden expansion of the throat cavity. This fish 

 makes a very interesting pet, but requires large amounts of live food to keep it 

 alive. Only one should be kept in an aquarium for they are quarrelsome. Gill 

 (1908) reports that a sargassum fish 6 inches long swallowed a 4-inch sargassum 

 fish while in captivity. In the wild, it rarely swims but uses its ventrals and 

 pectorals to clamber about in masses of sargasso weed. It is almost exclusively 

 confined to floating sargasso weed, especially in the Sargasso Sea. It may drift 

 far north with masses of this weed in the Gulf Stream. It requires very careful 

 examination of the weed to find this well-camouflaged fish, although it is very 

 common there. The eggs are laid in a floating "raft" about 4 inches long. The 

 eggs of the flying fishes found in sargasso weed were for a long time thought 

 to be those of this fish. 



Similar Species: A rare member of this family reaching at least 13^2 inches in 

 length is found in warm waters of the West Coast. It is the frogfish, Ayitennarlus 

 avalonis. 



