REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 83 



Season in R. I.: Occasionally taken in October and November. Two 

 specimens from Newport are in the U. S. National Museum. (Proc. U. S. 

 Nat. Mus., 1880, 86.) October 9, 1905, a specimen taken at the north 

 end of Conanicut Island. 



Food.: All bottoms invertebrates; molluscs, Crustacea, sea urchins, worms. 

 Useful scavengers. 



CYCLOPTERID^. The Lump-Suckers. 



145. Cyclopterus lumpus (LinnjEus) . Lumpfish. 



Geog. Dist.: North Atlantic, south to France and Cape Cod. 



Season in R. I.: Fairly common in April, May, and June. Specimen from 



Newport in the U. S. National Museum. (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1880, 



83.) 

 Habitat: Rocky shores. 

 Reproduction: Spawns in April and May near the shore. "The female 



then retires to deep water, leaving the male to watch the eggs which hatch 



among seaweed and eelgrass." (Garman.) The young are sometimes 



taken in the summer under drifting seaweed. 

 Food: Ctenophores, small jelly-fishes. 

 Size: Sometimes reaches 20 inches, but generally less. 



LIPARIDID.^. The Sea-SnaUs. 



146. Liparis'liparis (Linnaeus). Sea-snail; Sucker. 



Geog. Dist.: North Atlantic on both shores, north to Spitzbergen, south 

 to Connecticut and France. Most abundant in North Europe. 



Season in R. I.: In the U. S. National Museum is a specimen taken by the 

 U. S. Fish Commission at Watch Hill Reef, August, 1874. Small specimen 

 taken in September, 1874, off Block Island, from the shell of a large species 

 of scallop, Pecten tenuicostatus. (Goode, Nat. Hist, of Aquatic Animals, 

 234.) Common in winter on rocky bottoms. (Smith.) 



Habitat: Parasitic, living within the shells of large scallops, in company 



with a small crab. 

 Reproduction: Found full of spawn in December and January. (Smith.) 



