FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 525 



of thornlike teeth on the roof of the mouth, while all the teeth point inward toward 

 the guUet. The gill openings are behind the pectoral fins and lack the gill covers 

 to be seen in most bony fishes. The eyes are situated on the top of the head and 

 are directed upward. 



The pectoral fins are exceedingly diagnostic, for instead of rising directly from 

 the sides of the body, as in most bony fislies, their bases take the form of thick 

 fleshy arms as already described (p. 524), bearing the fins proper at their outer edges, 

 while the latter are so thick skinned that their rays are hardly visible except in the 

 scalloping of the margins. They are fanlike when spread. There are three stiff 

 slender spines (representing the anterior part of the spiny dorsal fin) hardly thicker 

 than bristles on the top of the head, the first being close behind the tip of the snout, 

 the second slightly in front of the eyes, and the third on the nape; and while the 

 first and second are movable from recumbent to erect, the third slopes backward 

 with its basal half imbedded in the skin." The relative lengths of these spines 

 vary, but in most of the fish we have seen the first two have been about equal in 

 length or the second slightly the longer, with the third much the shortest of the 

 three. The first bears an iri'egular leaflike flap of skin at its tip, supposed to play 

 an important role in the daily life of the goosefish as a lure for its prey (p. 528), 

 while the second and third spines have small triangular membranes at their bases 

 and one or both may be fringed with short lobes of skin. There are two weU- 

 developed dorsal fins, the fii"st (of three spines) situated over the pectorals and 

 the second (10 to 11 rays) on the rear part of the trunk. The single anal fin (9 to 

 10 rays) stands below the second dorsal, and the ventrals (about 5 thick rays) are 

 situated under the head well in front of the pectorals. The caudal fin is small 

 and broom shaped. The dorsal fins have thin delicate membranes but the caudal, 

 anal, and ventrals are thick and fleshy. The skin is scaleless, very smooth and 

 slippery to the touch, and there is a row of fleshy flaps of irregular shape running 

 around the margin of the head and the edge of the lower jaw, with smaller tags 

 fringins: the sides of the trunk as far back as the base of the caudal fin. Further- 

 more, the upper side of the head bears several low conical spines which vary in 

 prominence from fish to fish. 



Color. — The many goosefish we have seen (and this corroborates the pub- 

 lished accounts) have been chocolate brown above, variously and very finely mot- 

 tled with pale and dark. The dorsal fins, the upper sides of the pectorals, and the 

 caudal fin are of a darker shade of the same color as the back, nearly black at the 

 tips, while the whole lower surface of the fish is dirty white. Sometimes, it is said, 

 the upper side is dotted with white spots, but we have seen none so marked. Very 

 small ones are described as mottled and speclded with green and brown. 



Size. — Adults run from 3 to 4 feet long,°* weighing up to 45 pounds, and they 

 have been recorded as heavy as 70 pounds. One 38 inches long, captured at Woods 

 Hole on July 25, 1923, weighed 32 pounds alive. 



9^ Sometimes not more than one-third is imbedded. 



" Rumor has it that goosefish grow to 6 feet, but we And none definitely recorded (and have seen none) longer than 4 feet. 



