458 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 







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Figure 238. — Alligator fish (Aspidophoroides monopterygius). Top and center, adult, side and dorsal views, Halifax, 

 Nova Scotia; from Jordan and Evermann, drawing by H. L. Todd. Below, larva, 11 mm. long, Gloucester, Mass. 



them. There are likewise two large plates and 

 several small ones in front of each pectoral fin. 

 The eyes are very large, with prominent ridges 

 above them, and there are two sharp recurved 

 spines on the top of the nose. The mouth is small 

 with minute teeth. The dorsal and anal fins (each 

 of five or six rays) are fanshaped, one over the 

 other, and are situated about midway of the truck. 

 The caudal fin is small and rounded, the pectorals 

 are larger than the anal, dorsal, or caudal fins, and 

 the ventral fins are reduced to one spine and two 

 rays each. 



Color.— The many specimens we have seen have 

 been dark brown above, lighter brown below, with 

 two darker cross bands between the pectoral fins 

 and the dorsal fin; one cross band under the dorsal, 

 and two or three cross bands between the dorsal 

 and caudal fins. The dorsal and pectoral fins are 

 more or less barred; the caudal is dusky. 



Size. — Five to seven inches long when full 

 grown. 



Habits. — Nothing whatever is known of the life 

 of the alligatorfish except that it is a bottom fish 

 and that it has been repeatedly found in the 

 stomachs of cod, haddock, and halibut although 

 it is not "much thicker or softer than an iron 

 spike." I8 The Grampus and the Albatross II have 

 trawled it both on pebbly bottom, on sand and 

 broken shells, and on soft mud. So far as known 

 adults never stray into water shoaler than 10 to 

 15 fathoms, and the deepest record for it, with 

 which we are acquainted, is from 104 fath- 



u Goode, Fi»h. Ind. U. 8., Sect. 1, 1884, p. 258. 



oms." Its range shows that it is a cold water fish. 

 Its upper temperature limit is about 50°-52°; its 

 lower limit close to the freezing point of salt water. 

 Its breeding habits are unknown. Probably its 

 eggs sink like those of sculpins. 



The presence of its larvae in Passamaquoddy 

 Bay, off Boothbay, and near Seal Island, Nova 

 Scotia, from April to June, points to late autumn 

 and early winter as the spawning season. It does 

 not take to the bottom until of considerable size, 

 for we have taken young ones as long as 29 mm. in 

 our towings. 20 



General range. — From west Greenland and the 

 east coast of Labrador southward to Cape Cod, and 

 to northern New Jersey as a stray. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — Being of no 

 interest to fishermen, and liviog too deep to strand 

 on the beach, this fish is seldom reported. It has 

 been taken in the Bay of Fundy in 15 to 100 

 fathoms; in the inner part of Passamaquoddy Bay; 

 near Eastport; off Mount Desert in 60 fathoms; 

 off Monhegan; near Portland; in 30 fathoms off 

 Casco Bay; on Cashes Ledge; in Ipswich Bay; off 

 Gloucester, Nahant, and Boston in Massachusetts 

 Bay; off Provincetown; off Chatham; and in the 

 South Channel to the eastward of Cape Cod. 

 Evidently it may be expected anywhere in the Gulf 

 in depths of 10 to 100 fathoms, and perhaps deeper. 



Goode and Bean 21 described it as "abundant" 

 in the deeper parts of Massachusetts Bay, but our 



» Southeastern slope of Browns Bank, latitude 42°20' N; longitude 65°08' 

 W; Goode and Bean Smithsonian, Contrib. Knowl., vol. 30, 1895, p. 284. 

 « Bigelow, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 61, 1917, p. 272. 

 s> Bull. Essex Inst., vol. 11, 1879, p. 13. 



