FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



453 



Figure 235. — Staghorn sculpin {Gymnocanlhus tricuspis). After Smitt. 



become relatively longer with growth until at ma- 

 turity they reach considerably beyond the point 

 of origin of the anal fin, farther in males of breed- 

 ing age than in females. 2 The first dorsal fin has 

 11 or 12 spines; the second dorsal 15 to 17 soft 

 rays. The caudal and pectoral fins and the gen- 

 eral shape of the fish are of the usual sculpin type. 



Color. — Described as dark brownish or gray 

 above, the sides as marked with dark crossbands 

 or with alternate light and dark greenish spots; 

 the lower surface as white or yellowish with an 

 irregular line of demarkation between dark sides 

 and pale belly. The dorsal and pectoral fins are 

 pale, the former with 3, and the latter with 4 or 5 

 irregular dark brown or black crossbands. The 

 ventral and anal fins are yellow rayed, with mem- 

 branes of the same color as the belly. 



Size. — Up to about 10 inches long. 



General range. — Arctic Ocean and North At- 

 lantic, south to northern Norway on the European 

 coast; on the American coast it ranges southward 

 along the outer coast of Labrador 3 to the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence, where it is generally distributed 

 along the north shore * and is characteristic of the 

 icy water on the banks in the southern side, accord- 

 ing to Huntsman, and it has been reported as far 

 as Eastport, Maine, as a stray. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — The most 

 southerly record for this Arctic sculpin, and the 

 only one for the Gulf of Maine, is of a specimen 

 caught at Eastport, Maine, in 1872, and now in 

 the United States National Museum. It is only 



• Small fry that we have examined from Saeglek Bay on the northeastern 

 coast of Labrador, and an adult male from the estuary of the St. Lawrence 

 River, agree with Smitt's (Scandinavian Fishes, vol. 1, 1892, p. ICO as O. 

 veniralis) account of a specimen from Spitzbergen. 



3 Presumably it also occurs all around the coasts of Newfoundland; but 

 it is not Included among the species listed as taken during the trawling cruises 

 of the N ewfoundland Fisheries Research Commission. 



< Stearns, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 6, 1884, p. 125; Kendall, Proc. Port- 

 land Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 2, No. 13, 1909, p. 213-214. 



as a very rare stray from colder waters to the 

 north that it ever reaches our Gulf. 



Arctic sculpin Cottunculus microps Collett 1875 

 Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 1992. 



Description. — The head spines so characteristic 

 of most sculpins, are reduced in this species to 

 bony knobs, of which there are four on the top 

 of the head and several on its sides. The two 

 portions of the dorsal fin (spiny and soft) are united 

 into one continuous fin, a feature that marks it 

 off from all other local sculpins, while the spiny 

 part (only 6 to 8 spines) is shorter and lower than 

 the soft part (13 to 15 rays). But the very large 

 bony head, wide mouth, slender tapering body, 

 large fan-shaped pectorals, and the location of the 

 ventrals below the pectorals, give the fish the typ- 

 ical sculpin aspect. The anal fin (about 10 rays) 

 is a little shorter than the soft portion of the dor- 

 sal fin, and the caudal fin is small and rounded. 

 The skin is roughened with small warts. 



Color. — Described as pale with dusky crossbars, 

 one on the head, two on the body and fins, and 

 one at the base of the caudal fin. Scandinavian 

 specimens have been reported as having still an 

 other band across the tip of the caudal, and as 

 with the anal and pectoral fins dark mottled. 6 



Size. — Up to about 8 inches long. 



General range and occurrence in the Gulf of 

 Maine. — This is an Arctic deep-water species, 

 known off east Greenland and about Spitzbergen 

 in the Arctic Ocean, and from both sides of the 

 northern Atlantic. On the eastern side it has been 

 reported from northern Iceland, from Norwegian 

 waters southward to the Channel, and doubtfully 

 from the Skagerak. Off the American coast it 



' Smitt, Scandinavian Fishes, vol. 1, 1892, p. 163. 



