450 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



is the same as in the shorthorn sculpin (p. 445), 

 hence need not be described, and there are two 

 thorns on each shoulder, with a larger one close 

 above the origin of tbe pectoral fin. The first 

 dorsal fin is higher than the second (in the short- 

 horn sculpin these two fins are of about equal 

 heights), of rather different shape from that of 

 the shorthorn (compare fig. 234 with fig. 229), and 

 proportionately shorter than in the latter though 

 with about the same number of spines (8 or 9). 



The second dorsal fin and the anal have the 

 same number of rays (15 or 16 dorsal and about 

 14 anal) as in the shorthorn; but the anal of the 

 longhorn originates under the second or third 

 ray of the second dorsal fin instead of under its 

 fourth or fifth ray. The pectorals are of the 

 fanlike form usual among sculpins. The lateral 

 line of the longhorn sculpin is marked by a series 

 of smooth cartilaginous plates instead of by 

 prickly scales as it is in the shorthorn, a difference 

 obvious to tbe touch; its body is more slender 

 (about five and one-half times as long as it is 

 deep) ; and its head is flatter. 



Color. — The longhorn, like other sculpins, varies 

 in color with its surroundings. The ground tint 

 of the back and sides ranges from dark olive to 

 pale greenish-yellow, greenish-brown, or pale 

 mouse color, but is never red or black as the 

 shorthorn so often is. As a rule it is marked 

 with four irregular, obscure, dark crossbars, but 

 these are often broken up into blotches and they 

 may be indistinct. The coarseness of pattern 

 often corresponds to that of the bottom, as does 

 the degree of contrast between pale and dark. 

 On mud and sand bottom this sculpin is often 

 nearly plain colored, but when it is lying on 

 pebbles with white corallines its back is often 

 nearly white with dark-gray blotches, rendering 

 it almost invisible. The first dorsal fin is pale 

 sooty with pale and dark mottlings or spots; the 

 second dorsal is paler olive with three irregular 

 oblique dark crossbands; the caudal is pale gray; 

 and the pectorals yellowish. Both caudal and 

 pectorals are marked with 4 to 6 rather narrow 

 but distinct dark crossbands. The anal is pale 

 yellowish with dark mottlings; and there often is 

 an obscure yellowish band along the lower part 

 of the sides, marking the transition from the dark 

 upper parts to the pure white belly. 



Size. — This is a smaller fish than the shorthorn 

 sculpin. It grows to a maximum length of about 



18 inches, but only a few of them are more than 

 10 to 14 inches long. A 10-inch fish weighs about 

 % pound, one 12 inches long about 1 pound. 



Habits.** — Everyone who has fished along the 

 shores of our Gulf is more or less f amiliar with this 

 sculpin, for it is a nuisance to cunner and flounder 

 fishermen. It often is bothersome to the angler to 

 unhook when it spreads its needle-sharp spines 

 and erects its spiny dorsal fin. It grunts when 

 pulled out of the water and bites on any bait. 



No doubt it is as omnivorous as the shorthorn. 

 Specimens examined by Vinal Edwards at Woods 

 Hole had fed chiefly on shrimps, crabs, amphipods, 

 hydroids, annelid worms, mussels and sundry 

 other mollusks, squids, ascidians, and on a con- 

 siderable list of fish fry, including alewives, din- 

 ners, eels, mummichogs, herring, mackerel, men- 

 haden, puffers, launce, scup, silversides, smelts, 

 tomcod, silver hake, and small fry of other 

 sculpins. Rock crabs (Cancer irroratus) and 

 amphipod crustaceans (Leptocheirus) had been 

 the dominant food of a large series of shorthorns 

 in Block Island Sound, examined by Morrow; 

 nearly all of them had eaten shrimps (Crago) but 

 in small amount; a few contained small lobsters; 

 and spider crabs (Libinia) were a regular article 

 of diet in winter, but not in summer. It is 

 interesting that these particular shorthorns had 

 eaten only a few mollusks of any kind. 89 



The longhorn is as useful a scavenger as the 

 shorthorn, and equally voracious, gathering about 

 wharves, sardine factories, and under lobster cars, 

 always keeping to the bottom. Its depth range 

 is rather wider than that of the shorthorn. At 

 the one extreme it is abundant in many shoal 

 harbors and bays, where it comes up on the flats 

 at high tide, to leave them at low; and it runs up 

 into estuaries, salt creeks, and river mouths, 

 though never into fresh water, so far as we know. 

 At the other extreme it is caught in considerable 

 numbers down to 50 fathoms or so, and it has 

 been reported as deep as 105 fathoms. 90 



The longhorn evidently is at home in tempera- 

 tures as high as about 65°-66°, for we have seen 

 many of them in very shallow water that warm, or 



» Morrow (Bull. Bingham Oceanographic Coll., vol. 13, Art. 2, 1951) 

 has recently published a detailed study of this sculpin, as found off southern 

 New England. 



•' For more extensive diet lists see Morrow, Bull. Bingham Oceanographio 

 Coll., vol. 13, Art. 2, 1951, pp. 60-61, 88-89. 



■• In Trinity Bay, east coast of Newfoundland, Kept. Newfoundland Fish. 

 Res. Comm., vol. I, No. 4, 1932, p. 108, Sta. 35. 



