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FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



also in considerable numbers down to 50 fatboms 

 or so (p. 450). We have trawled it at 27 to 33 

 fatboms in Massachusetts Bay, and at 50 fathoms 

 off Cape Elizabeth. But it has not been reported 

 from the basin at greater depths. 



It also occurs plentifully on Georges Bank, and 

 while the composition of the sculpin population 

 of Georges Bank is yet to be determined, the facts 

 that this was the only sculpin (except the sea 

 raven which it greatly outnumbered) taken there 

 on otter trawling trips in June 1912, or in Septem- 

 ber 1929, and that the dragger Eugene H took 

 1,030 of them in 35 trawl hauls on the southwestern 

 part of Georges, at 25-35 fathoms (but none in 

 deeper hauls) in late June 1951, are evidence that 

 it is the commonest member of its tribe on shoal 

 parts of the bank. It is fair, also, to assume that 

 this applies equally to Browns Bank, where fisher- 

 men report sculpins of one sort or another as 

 plentiful. It is described, also, as very common 

 along the Nova Scotian coast and banks eastward 

 from Cape Sable, in suitable depths, and as widely 

 but irregularly distributed around the southern 

 shores and islands of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 08 



The longhorn is a year-round resident, in the 

 sense that its only periodic movements are off 

 and on shore, and of short extent, combined with 

 movements to and from particular grounds. Near 

 New York it is commonest near shore from Sep- 

 tember to May, and is seen only occasionally in 

 summer. In Long Island Sound they appear to 

 carry out east-west journeys about which little 

 is known; in Block Island Sound (off the mouth 

 of Long Island Sound) they are plentiful on the 

 productive fishing grounds from November 

 throughApril, but mostly withdraw thence during 

 May (either offshore, or onto more rocky grounds 

 nearby), not to return in force until the next 

 October." These shifts do not appear to be 

 connected with temperature. 



All that is known of its movements in the Gulf 

 of Maine is that in partially enclosed and very 

 shallow situations where the water on the flats 

 heats to 68°-70° in the warmest part of the 

 season, but where ice forms in the winter (Dux- 

 bury Bay, for example), the shorthorns seek 

 slightly deeper (i. e., cooler) water for the summer, 



■• Co*, Contrlb. Canadian Biol. (1918-1920) 1021, p. Ill; Leim, Proc. Nova 

 Scotian Inst. Sci., vol. 20, 1940, p. 40. 



'• For further details see Morrow. Bull, Bingham Oceanographic Coll., 

 vol. 13, art. 2, 1951, p. 51 



work up again onto the flats in early autumn; 

 move deeper again in late autumn; then work 

 back on the flats again in early spring. They 

 continue common, however, right up to low tide 

 line all summer in localities where the surface 

 does not become so warm in summer or so cold 

 in winter. This is the general rule northward 

 and eastward around the coast of Maine, includ- 

 ing the Passamaquoddy region. 



The presence of longhorn sculpins of all sizes, 

 from very young fry to adult, proves that they 

 breed all along the coasts of Massachusetts and 

 of Maine, probably along western Nova Scotia 

 as well. But it seems to be restricted as a breeder 

 in the Bay of Fundy to the Scotian side. Thus it 

 appears that the half-grown and adult fish that 

 are plentiful along the New Brunswick shore are 

 migrants, either from the Nova Scotian side 

 across the bay, or from the open Gulf outside. 



Importance.— -The only commercial value this 

 sculpin has had in our Gulf was as bait for 

 lobster pots, for which they were speared formerly 

 in some localities, and caught on hook and line 

 in others. But very few of them are now used 

 in this way. 



Staghorn sculpin Gymnocanthus tricusjns 

 (Reinhardt) 1832 

 Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2008. 



Description. — This sculpin is easily distinguish- 

 able from its more common relatives by the shape 

 of the uppermost of its three cheek spines, which 

 is broad, flat, and with three short, sharp branches 

 at its tip ' instead of cylindrical and single pointed; 

 also its anal fin (16 to 18 rays) originates well in 

 front of its second dorsal fin instead of behind 

 the latter, and its two dorsal fins are separated 

 by a distinct space instead of being practically 

 continuous at the bottom of the notch that 

 separates them. Furthermore, the spines char- 

 acteristic of the top of the head and shoulders of 

 our other sculpins are either lacking on the stag- 

 horn or are very short, and the corners of its gill 

 covers are rounded instead of sharp. Distinctive 

 also, if less obvious, is the fact that the top of its 

 head is more or less prickly or warty. 



The 3-rayed ventral fins reach only about to 

 the vent on young fry of 1% to 2 inches, but they 



1 These branches are only faintly indicated at the tips of the spatulate 

 spines on young fry that we have seen, 1H to 2 inches long. 



