FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



449 



In Scandinavian waters this fish is said to vary 

 widely in abundance from year to year, years of 

 plenty alternating with longer periods of scarcity, 

 but this does not seem to be the case to any 

 noticeable extent in the Gulf of Maine where it is 

 always common. 



To the northward and eastward, the shorthorn 

 is common all along the outer coast of Nova 

 Scotia, in 10-30 fathoms, and it has been taken 

 on Banquereau Bank. It has not been reported 

 in the Magdalen and Prince Edward Island shal- 

 lows in the southern side of the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence, where summer temperatures are high. 

 But it is to be expected in that side of the Gulf in 

 slightly deeper water, for it is known all along 

 the northern shore of the Gulf, from Anticosti to 

 the Strait of Belle Isle. We find no record of it on 

 the Newfoundland Banks, probably because of 

 the depth of water; neither is any definite informa- 

 tion available as to its status along the south 

 coast of Newfoundland. But it is recorded off 

 the east coast, from the trawlings of the New- 

 foundland Fisheries Research Commission, and 

 along the outer coast of Labrador, at Battle 

 Harbor (just north of the Strait of Belle Isle); 83 

 at Rigolet in Hamilton Inlet; 84 in the vicinity of 

 Nain; 85 at Fort Chimo, Ungava Bay, and it is 

 widespread in the Hudson Bay region. 86 



83 Specimen in Museum of Comparative Zoology. 



- See Kendall (Proc. Portland Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 2, Pt. 8, No. 13, 1909, 

 pp. 213, 233) for records from outer Labrador. 



» Kendall, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 38, 1910, p. 509. 



" See Vladykov (Contrib. Canadian Biol., N. Ser., vol. 8, 1933, p. 30 (No. 2, 

 p. 18], as groenlandicus) for localities where it has been taken in Hudson Bay, 

 including James Bay. 



Importance. — Although this is an edible fish 

 and accounted a good one, its appearance and 

 habits will probably close our markets to it as 

 long as other fish are plentiful. Nevertheless, it 

 once was of some commercial importance, being 

 one of the best baits for lobster pots, for which 

 purpose great numbers were speared formerly on 

 the Massachusetts coast in spring, and were caught 

 along the northern coast of the Gulf on hook and 

 line. But very little use is made of them nowa- 

 days, if any. 



Longhorn sculpin Myoxocephalus octodecimspi- 

 nosus (Mitchill), 87 1815 



Gray sculpin; Hacklehead; Toadfish 

 Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 1976. 



Description. — This fish resembles the shorthorn 

 sculpin so closely that the description may be 

 confined to the points in which it differs. Chief 

 of these is the great length of its uppermost cheek 

 spine, which usually is about four times as long 

 as the spine just below, and which reaches at 

 least as far back as the edge of the gill cover. 

 This serves equally to distinguish the young 

 longhorn from the grubby, which is short-horned. 

 All the head spines, too, of the longhorn are so 

 sharp that one must be cautious in grasping one 

 of these fish, for it turns its spines rigidly outward 

 by spreading its gill covers. Furthermore the 

 long spines of the long horn are naked at the tip. 

 The number and arrangement of the head spines 



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

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



Figure 234. — Longhorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus octodecimspinosus), New Jersey. 

 210941—53 30 



From Goode. Drawing by H. L. Todd. 



