518 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



MPPRHI^^W 



^^^%o^afessaa^^^ 



Figure 273. — Cusk eel (Lepophidium cervinum). After Goode and Bean. Drawing by H. L. Todd. 



back, around the tip of the tail, and forward on the 

 lower surface. But it is separated from all the 

 true eels, by the presence of ventral fins, situated 

 on the throat far in front of the pectorals, and 

 reduced to forked barbel-like structures. The 

 structure of the ventral fins and the uninterrupted 

 dorsal fin separate the cusk eel from the ocean 

 pout, its near relative among local fishes. And 

 the presence of a short sharp spine on the top 

 of the snout pointing forward and downward, 

 which is easily felt if not seen (for it is nearly con- 

 cealed in the skin), likewise differentiates it from 

 such other Gulf of Maine species as it resembles in 

 general appearance. The shape of the snout, too, 

 is distinctive, as are its rather large scales, for the 

 other genera of its family have naked heads, and 

 the scales on their bodies are very small. 



Color. — Brownish yellow, darker above than 

 below, the upper part of each side marked with a 

 row of 14 to 23 roundish white or pale brown spots. 



The dorsal and anal fins have narrow black or 

 dusky margins. It seems that the adult color pat- 

 tern develops late, for neither the spots nor the 

 edgings on the fins are visible in a young specimen 

 of 2% inches. 



Size. — The type specimen was about 10% inches 

 (262 mm.) long. 



General range and occurrence in the Gulf of 

 Maine.- — This fish has been taken at various local- 

 ities along the outer part of the continental shelf 

 from off Florida to eastward of Nantucket, in 

 depths of 38 to 102 fathoms. It is mentioned here 

 because one specimen has been taken in 76 fath- 

 oms off Nantucket Shoals, 81 while two others, 

 about V/i and 8% inches long (newly swallowed) 

 were found in the stomach of a white hake Uro- 

 phycis tenuis) that was trawled on the south- 

 western part of Georges Bank (lat. 40°31' N., 

 long. 68°55' W.), at 39 fathoms, by the dragger 

 Eugene II. on June 27, 1951. 



THE TOADFISHES. FAMILY BATRACHOIDIDAE 



The toadfishes are somewhat sculpin-like in 

 appearance, but the resemblance is superficial, for 

 their ventral fins are situated on the throat well 

 in front of the pectoral fins ("jugular"), and they 

 have only three gills and three gill arches. Both 

 the soft and the spiny portions of the dorsal fin 

 are well developed as separate fins, the former 

 much longer than the latter. Most of the species 

 belong to warm seas, only one reaching the Gulf 

 of Maine. 82 



Toadfish Opsanus tau (Linnaeus) 1766 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2315. 



Description. — The toadfish, like the sculpins, has 

 a large flat head, round nose, tremendous mouth, 

 tapering body with plump belly, and fanlike 

 pectoral fins. But it differs from all sculpins, 



» Goode and Bean, Smithson. Contrib. Know!., vol. 30, 1895, p. 347. 

 " See Schulti and Reid (Copeia, 1937, No. 4, p. 211) for a synopsis of the 

 American-Atlantic species of the genus Optanut. 



and indeed from all other spiny-finned fishes of 

 the Gulf of Maine except the blennies (p. 491) in 

 the location of its ventral fins, which are under the 

 throat well in front of the pectorals ("jugular") 

 instead of below the latter or behind them. And 

 no one could confuse it with any blenny, for it is 

 not only a totally different looking fish, but its 

 dorsal fin is mostly soft rayed while that of the 

 blennies is spiny throughout. The presence of 

 fleshy flaps of irregular outline on the tip of the 

 upper jaw and along the edge of the lower jaw, 

 on the cheeks, and over each eye, gives its head 

 a peculiar wary appearance. Distinctive, also, is 

 the fleshy nature of all its fins and the outline of 

 the dorsal, the soft part of which (26 to 28 rays) 

 is five to six times as long as the spiny part (3 

 spines), from which it is entirely separated by a 

 deep notch, the two together extending the whole 

 length of the trunk from the nape of the neck 

 nearly to the base of the caudal fin. The anal 



