328 BULLETIN OF THE BUEEAU OF FISHERIES 



123. Staghorn sculpin {Gymnocardhus tricuspis Reinhardt) 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2008. 



Description. — This sculpin is easily distinguishable from its more common 

 relatives by the fact that the uppermost of the three cheek spines is broad, fiat, and 

 3-branched at the tip instead of cylindrical and single pointed; also by the fact 

 that the anal fin (16 to 18 rays) originates well in front of the second dorsal instead 

 of behind it, and that its two dorsals are separated by a distinct space instead of 

 being practically continuous at the bottom of the notch that demarks them. Fur- 

 thermore the spines characteristic of the top of the head and shoulders of the other 

 sculpins on our coast are either lacking in the staghorn or are very short, and 

 the corner of its gill cover is rounded instead of sharp pointed. Diagnostic, also, 

 if less obvious, is the fact that the top of the head is more or less prickly or warty. 

 The length of the ventrals has been stated variously by different authors. Accord- 

 ing to Smitt *" they do not reach back to the vent, but H. R. Storer " represents 

 them and Jordan and Evermann describe them as much longer, extending to the 

 anal fin.^' The first dorsal is of 11 or 12 spines; the second of 15 to 17 rays. The 

 caudal and pectoral fins and the general form of the fish are of the usual "sculpin" 

 type. 



Fig. 158. — Staghorn sculpin {Gymnocanthus tricuspis). After Smitt 



Color. — Described as dark bro^\^lish or gray above, the sides marked with 

 dark crossbands or with alternate light and dark greenish spots. The belly is 

 described as white or yellowish with an irregular line of demarkation between 

 dark sides and pale belly. The dorsal and pectoral fins are pale, the former with 

 three and the latter with four or five irregular dark brown or black crossbands. 

 The ventrals and anal are yellow raj^ed, with membranes of the same color as the 

 belly 



Size. — -About 10 inches long. 



General range. — Arctic Ocean and North Atlantic, south to northern Norway 

 on the European coast, and to Eastport, Me., on the American coast. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine — The most southerly record for this Arctic 

 sculpin, and the only Gulf of Maine capture, is a specimen caught at Eastport, Me., 

 in 1872, and now in the U. S. National Museiun. It is only as a rare stray from 

 colder waters to the east and north that it ever reaches the Gulf. 



" Scandinavian Fishes, 1892. 



" A specimen from Labrador figiured by Storer (1850, pi. 7, fig. 2) has longer and sharper spines than are credited to it by- 

 Jordan and Evermann or by Smitt. 



88 Unfortunately we had not seen this sculpin. In one recently examined the ventrals fall short of the vent. 



