FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



145 



Provincetown; a third picked up alive there in 

 July, 1865 (pictured by Storer on pi. 25, fig. 5); 

 and five others found on the Provincetown beach 

 soon afterward. We have seen one specimen 41 

 mm. long taken from the stomach of a cod, on 

 Platts Bank, July 27, 1924; one 43 mm. long, also 

 from a cod's stomach, on Cashes Ledge, August 

 16, 1928; and four, 32 to 39 mm. long, taken from 

 the stomachs of <two pollock that we caught in 20 

 fathoms, 7 miles southeast of Bakers Island, 

 Mount Desert, Maine, July 24, 1930. It has 

 been found twice at Grand Manan, 37 and speci- 

 mens were picked up on the beach at Campobello 

 Island at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy in July 



1914, 38 while others were taken from the stomach 

 of a pollock caught near by. It has also been 

 recorded twice near Woods Hole. 



These locality records are distributed widely 

 enough to show that it is to be expected anywhere 

 in our Gulf. And we suspect that the pearlsides 

 is not as scarce there as the paucity of actual 

 records for it might suggest (in fact, Storer tells 

 us that a Nahant fisherman reported finding them 

 repeatedly in the stomachs of haddock many 

 years ago) , but that it keeps out of sight, being an 

 inhabitant of the deeper water layers as its 

 luminescent organs would suggest, coming up to 

 the surface chiefly at night. 



VIPER FISHES. FAMILY CHAULIODONTIDAE 



The viper fishes have slender bodies, bulldog- 

 like faces with long fangs; the first dorsal very far 

 forward, the anal far back; and no barbel on the 

 chin. 



Viperfish Chavliodus sloani Bloch and Schneider 

 1801 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 585. 



Description. — The viperfish not only has lum- 

 inescent organs, but it is very different in general 

 appearance from all the fishes that are regular 

 inhabitants of the Gulf of Maine. Most obvious 

 of its characteristics is its bulldog-like mouth. It 

 shares this with its fellow strays, Stomias (p. 147), 

 Stomioides (p. 147) and Trigonolampa (p. 148) and 

 the general form is much alike in the three. But 

 there is no danger of confusing it with any one of 

 these if one looks closely, for the viperfish has an 



» Coi (Bull. Nat. Hist. Soc. New Brunswick, 14, 1896, append., p. 65) 

 reported one found dead there, on the shore, 

 a Huntsman (Contrlb. Canadian Biol., (1921) 1922, p. 61.) 



adipose fin and its rayed dorsal fin is far forward, 

 whereas Stomias, Stomioides, and Trigonolampa 

 have no adipose fin and their rayed dorsal fin 

 stands far rearward. 



In the viperfish the lower jaw is longer than the 

 upper, the upper is armed with four long fangs on 

 each side, while the lower has a series of pointed 

 teeth set far apart, those in front very elongate 

 and all of them so long that tbey project when the 

 mouth is closed. Furthermore, the snout is so 

 short that the very wide mouth gapes far back of 

 the eye. The body is about seven times as long 

 as deep, flattened sidewise, deepest close behind 

 the head, and tapering evenly to the tail. The 

 very short dorsal fin (6 or 7 rays) stands far 

 forward and its first ray is separate, very slender, 

 and about half as long as the fish when not broken 

 off, as it usually is. The ventrals are about 

 midway between the snout and the origin of the 

 anal fin, variously pictured as either larger or 

 smaller than the dorsal. The small anal is close 

 to the caudal, with the adipose fin over it. The 



Figure 63. — Viperfish (Chauliodus sloani), southern slope of Browns Bank. After Goode and Bean. 



