FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



445 



Albatross II trawled 9 specimens 43-51 mm. long 

 in 28 fathoms off the outer coast of Cape Cod 

 abreast of Chatham, May 1, 1930. But it seems 

 to be decidedly local in its distribution, for the 

 only places where it has been definitely reported 

 along the coast between Cape Ann and the Bay of 

 Fundy is Casco Bay, nor have we caught it in any 

 of the harbors of Maine where we have fished. In 

 any case, it is far outnumbered in the Gulf of 

 Maine by the two larger sculpins to be mentioned 

 next. 



Importance. — Because it is so small the grubby 

 is of no commercial value. But wherever it is 

 common it is something of a nuisance to anglers 

 fishing for flounders and cunners, for it bites as 

 greedily at any bait as do its larger relatives, and 

 it serves as a source of food, no doubt, for more 

 important fishes. 



Shorthorn sculpin Myoxocephalus scorpius 

 (Linnaeus) 1758 " 



Daddy sculpin; Black sculpin; Greenland 



SCULPIN 



Jordan and Evermann,. 1896-1900, as M. scorpius and 

 M. groenlandicus, p. 1974. 



Description. — The shorthorn sculpin, with its 

 large flat head, vast mouth, weak tapering body, 

 bat-like pectorals, and insatiable appetite, typifies 



n Placed in the genus Acanthocottus, Girard, 1849, by Jordan, Evermann, 

 and Clark, Rept. U. S. Comm. Fish. (1928), Pt. 2, 1930, p. 386. 



the sculpin race in northern seas. It has a longi- 

 tudinal ridge with 3 knobs or spines running along 

 each side of its crown; also about 6 (sometimes 

 5 or 7) short triangular bluntish spines on each 

 side of the cheek between snout and gill opening, 

 the uppermost of these less than twice as long as 

 the one below it, and reaching not much more 

 than halfway to the edge of the gill cover. And 

 there is a short but sharp spine at the upper 

 corner of each gill cover, pointing rearward and 

 lying on a flap of skin, besides two thornlike spines 

 on each shoulder close behind the upper corner of 

 the gill cover. 



There is a pore, or small slit, piercing the soft 

 skin low down on each side of the throat close 

 behind the last gill arch, easily seen on large speci- 

 mens and detectable even on small ones on close 

 examination. 



The very large eyes are at least as wide as the 

 space between them, set high up on the sides of 

 the head with the upper edges close to the dorsal 

 profile, and they are directed a little upward as 

 well as outward. The two parts of the dorsal fin 

 are entirely separated by a deep notch, but there 

 is no gap between them. The forward part has 

 9 to 11 spines, the rear part about 16 or 17 

 (sometimes 15) soft rays, the longest of which 

 are only a very little longer, if any, than the long- 

 est of the spines, each measured from base to 

 tip. The anal fin, with 13 to 14 rays, is similar 

 to the second dorsal in shape, but a little smaller; 

 it originates about under the fourth or fifth soft 



Figure 229. — Shorthorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus scorpius), Eastport, Maine. From Goode. Drawing by H. L. Todd 



