516 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



farther back than in the ocean pout (over the tip 

 of the pectoral instead of in front of the base of 

 the latter), but all the dorsal rays (about 92) are 

 soft. Furthermore the anal fin (about 88 rays) 

 extends relatively farther forward than in the 

 ocean pout. The pectoral fins are rounded like 

 those of the ocean pout, but smaller relatively, 

 the small ventrals are similarly located well for- 

 ward of the pectorals, and in small specimens the 

 head resembles that of its relative in profile except 

 for a somewhat wider mouth. Old males, how- 

 ever (fig. 271), "are transformed almost beyond 

 specific recognition by an extraordinary develop- 

 ment of the entire head in advance of the eyes. 

 The snout becomes shovel-shaped, its length 

 equal to two-fifths that of the head, while in the 

 normal condition it is one-fourth". 66 



Color. — -The sides are light brown above the 

 lateral line, white below it, with a series of 8 to 10 

 irregular dark brown patches which the lateral 

 line bisects. The belly is blue, its lining jet black. 



Size. — Maximum length about 10 inches; usual 

 length about 4 to 6 inches. 



Habits. — This is a bottom fish, living on mud or 

 sand and confined to considerable depths of water. 

 Normally, 25 to 30 fathoms is its upper limit, but 

 the fact that the Grampus specimen mentioned 

 below was taken in a tow net, though close to 

 bottom, proves that it sometimes rises from the 

 ground. To the southward, on the continental 

 slope, it has been trawled down to 603 fathoms. 



Nothing is known of its way of life or of its 

 breeding habits. 



General range.- — So far known only off the coasts 

 of Nova Scotia and of New England, and south- 

 ward along the continental slope to the offing of 

 Beaufort, N. C, in rather deep water. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — The wolf eel 

 has been trawled at many localities on the con- 

 tinental slope at 200 to 600 fathoms from the 

 offing of Cape Fear, North Carolina (lat. 34°40' 

 N., long. 75°15' W.) to abreast the western end of 



• Goode and Bean, Smithsonian Contrib. Knowl.. vol. 30, 1895, p. 310. 



Georges Bank (long. 68°22' W.). w It was formerly 

 regarded as very rare within the Gulf of Maine, 

 the only records for it there up to 1925 having 

 been of a few specimens trawled off the mouth of 

 Passamaquoddy Bay in 35 to 50 fathoms; of one 

 4 inches long taken off Monhegan Island by the 

 Grampus on August 2, 1912, in 60 fathoms; and 

 of several that were collected by the U. S. Fish 

 Commission many years ago off Cape Ann in 75 

 to 110 fathoms, in the Western Basin in 115 

 fathoms, and off Cape Cod. More recent captures, 

 however, of a number of wolf eels at about 90 

 fathoms in the trough west of Jeffreys Ledge by 

 the Albatross II in November 1927, in August 1928, 

 and in September 1930 (a total of 61 specimens) 

 show that they are more plentiful in the deeper 

 parts of the Gulf than the previous record might 

 have suggested. 



The only definite records for the wolf eel east- 

 ward from Cape Sable are of 5 specimens taken 

 by the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Speedwell 

 3 miles off Cape Negro, Nova Scotia, in 90 fathoms, 

 in the summer of 1877 68 , and of one ■• taken 27 

 miles off the entrance to Halifax Harbor (Chebucto 

 Head) in 101 fathoms. 70 



Arctic eelpout Lycodes reticulatus Bernhardt 1838 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2465. 



Description. — This fish resembles the ocean pout 

 in its general appearance and in the arrangement 

 of its fins. The readiest field marks for it are 

 that the dorsal fin is not interrupted, but is con- 

 tinuous with the caudal fin, and that the dorsal 

 originates behind the bases of the pectorals instead 



i Goode and Bean (Smithsonian Contrib. Knowl., vol. 30, 1895, p. 310) 

 give a long list of localities from the early cruises of the U. S. Coast Survey 

 and of the U. S. Fish Commission. And Beebe (Zoologica, N. Y. Zool. Soc, 

 vol. 12, 1929, p. 18) has reported a wolf eel from the Hudson Gorge, off New 

 York, at 69 fathoms. 



M Reported by Goode and Bean, American Jour. Science, ser. 3, vol. 14, 

 1877, p. 473. 



•' This is the specimen pictured here in flg. 271. 



w Probably these specimens were the basis for Jones' (List Fishes Nova 

 Scotia, 1879, p. 5; Proc. Nova Scotian Inst. Sci., vol. 5, 1882, p. 91) statement 

 that the wolf eel occurs on the Nova Scotian fishing banks. 



Figure 272. — Arctic eelpout (Lycodes reticulatus). Drawing by Louella E. Cable. 



