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FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



after a meal. His observation that they evidently 

 preferred small fish is in line with their normal 

 habits, for they feed mostly on small fish, not on 

 large, and even the largest of them take very small 

 fry on occasion. 



In Scottish waters, 51 where the habits of the 

 local goosefish are better known than in the Gulf 

 of Maine, their local abundance depends on the 

 supply of small fish. And despite their poor 

 ability as swimmers goosefish have been found to 

 congregate near particular shoals of herring. 



Goosefish, like most fish of prey, often swallow 

 indigestible objects. They have even been 

 credited (on how good evidence we cannot say) 

 with pouching lobster-pot buoys. And the story 

 of one whose mouth made a holding ground for 

 the anchor of a small boat has been related 

 repeatedly. 



The most interesting habit of the goosefish is 

 that it actually does use the flap of skin at the 

 tip of its first dorsal spine as a bait to lure small 

 fishes within seizing distance, much as Aristotle 

 described. W. F. Clapp (only observer who has 

 watched the American goosefish feeding, to our 

 knowledge) has described them to us, in Duxbury 

 Harbor as lying motionless among the eelgrass, 

 with the "bait" at the tip of the first dorsal ray 

 swaying to and fro over the mouth. When a 

 tomcod (the only fish he saw them take) chances 

 to approach, it usually swims close up to the 

 "bait," but never (in his observation) actually 

 touches the latter, for the goosefish opens its vast 

 mouth as soon as the victim comes within a few 

 inches and closes it again, engulfing its prey 

 instantaneously. 



Further details added by observations on Euro- 

 pean anglers in aquaria at Port Erin, Isle of Man, 

 by Chadwick, 52 and at Plymouth, England, by 

 Wilson, 53 are that the first dorsal spine, with its 

 terminal "bait" is held down along the top of the 

 head, to be raised at the approach of a prospective 

 victim; that the bait may be jerked to and fro 

 quite actively in front of its owner's head; that 

 the victim is usually taken in head first; that a 

 fish swimming close enough may be snapped up 

 without the bait being brought into play; and 

 that some anglers use the bait often, others seldom. 



Wilson also made the interesting observation that 

 touching the "bait" does not cause a reflex snap- 

 ping of the jaws, showing that the angler feeds by 

 sight. 54 



Adult goosefish cannot have many enemies. 

 But small ones are no doubt picked up by various 

 predaceous fishes. And Lebour's observation M 

 that goosefish larvae in aquarium jars at Ply- 

 mouth, England, were devoured by the larvae of 

 the spiny lobster (Palinurus), by large copepods, 

 by ctenophores, and by hydroids when they came 

 close enough to the walls of the jar to be seized 

 by the latter, is an interesting illustration of the 

 hazards that larval fishes meet during their free- 

 drifting stages. 



Goosefish spawn in spring, summer, and early 

 autumn, according to the latitude, and through a 

 long season. Eggs and larvae have been taken 

 near Cape Lookout, N. C, in March and April; 5 * 

 in May off Cape Hatteras; 57 and as early as May 

 at Woods Hole. But spawning may not com- 

 mence until early summer in the Gulf of Maine, 

 for June 24 (Passamaquoddy Bay M ) is the earliest 

 date when eggs have been seen north of Cape Cod. 

 September 18 (off Seguin Island, Maine) is the 

 latest recorded date for American waters. 



The floating egg-veils of the European angler 

 have been reported as early as February 18 in 

 Scottish waters and as late as July 23, 59 while 

 Taning M concludes from the sizes of larvae taken 

 at different dates that March-June is the season 

 of chief production to the west and southwest of 

 the British Isles in general. In the Mediterranean 

 (with higher temperatures), anglers spawn from 

 December and January on, as shown by the pres- 

 ence of larvae. 61 



The locality of spawning has been the subject of 

 discussion, whether inshore in shoal water, or 

 offshore in deeper. The egg veils reported from 

 the Bay of Fundy by Connolly; 62 from Passama- 



'■ Fulton (Ann. Report, Fish. Board Scotland, (1902) 1903, Pt. 3, p. 195) 

 lists the stomach contents of 541 goosefish from various localities off Scotland) 

 •» Nature, vol. 124, 1929, p. 337. 

 » Jour. Marine Biol. Assoc. United Kingdom, vol. 21, pt. 2, 1937, p. 479, 



M Oudger (Amer. Naturalist, vol. 79, 1945, p. 542), has given an interesting 

 and readable survey of observations, at various hands, on the use of the bait. 



« Jour. Mar. Biol. Assoc. United Kingdom, vol. 13, 1925, p. 728. 



« Information supplied by the late S. F. Hildebrand. 



>> Taning, Rept. Danish Oceanogr. Expeds., 1908-1910, No. 7, vol. 2 (Biol), 

 A 10, 1923, p. 2B. 



« Connolly, Contrib. Canadian Biol. (1921) 1922, p. 116. 



•< See Bowman (Fish. Bd. Scotland, Scl. Invest. (1919, No. 2), 1920, p. 23) 

 for records for angler eggs up to 1919. 



« Danish Oceanogr. Eipeds., 1908-1910, No. 7, vol. 2 (Biol.), A 10, 1923, 

 p. 23. 



•> See Stiasny (Arbeit. Zoo!. Inst. Vienna, vol. 19, 1911, p. 70) for Mediter 

 ranean records, besides which an egg veil has been reported In January near 

 Naples by Le Bianco (Mltth. Zool. Stat. Neapel., vol. 19, pt. 4, 1909. p. 725) 



« Contrib. Canadian Biol. (1921), No. 7, 1922, p. 116. 



