Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 39 



Relation to Man. The Hag, being of no value itself, is only a nuisance to the fisher- 

 men because of its habit of damaging better fish, and a loathsome one, owing to its ability 

 to discharge slime from its mucous sacs out of all proportion to its size. One Hag, it is said, 

 can fill a two gallon bucket, and we think this no exaggeration.^' 



In American waters the commercial fishes most often damaged by it are the haddock 

 and the hakes (Urophycis), these being the species most often fished for with long lines 

 or with gill nets over the particular type of bottom that the Hag frequents. But it some- 

 times damages cod also, and European authors describe it as attacking ling (Molva) and 

 other gadoids, herring, mackerel, sturgeon, and even mackerel sharks (Isurus) under 

 similar circumstances. 



Range. Both sides of the northern North Atlantic. In the eastern North Atlantic it 

 occurs on the Murman coast and in northern Norway'" southward in abundance to the 

 northern part of the North Sea, the Kattegat (not known from the Baltic) and the Irish 

 Seaj less commonly to the English Channel (Cornwall) ; occasionally to Portugal. There 

 are two records of it off Morocco, one just outside the Straits of Gibralter,*^ the other 

 just inside in the Mediterranean."' It has been credited to the Adriatic" also, no doubt on 

 the strength of the fact, reported by Garman,'* that there are three specimens labelled 

 "Trieste" in the collection of the Museum of Comparative Zoology (see Study Material, 

 p. 34). But so far as we can learn it is not included otherwise in any of the general surveys 

 of Mediterranean fishes°° that have appeared. This makes it much more probable that the 

 specimens in question were mislabelled, and that Myxine is actually not a regular member 

 of the fauna of the inner parts of the Mediterranean. 



On the western side of the Atlantic it occurs at least occasionally as far north as the 

 northern part of Davis Strait (see p. 40), and southward as far as the latitude of Cape 

 Fear in North Carolina. It is represented in the corresponding thermal belt in the southern 

 hemisphere (Chile, southern Argentina, Straits of Magellan, Tierra del Fuego, South 

 Africa) by a form, or forms, so closely allied that it is doubtful whether any sharp line can 

 be drawn between them (see discussion, p. 33). 



Occurrence in the Western Atlantic. While not known for certain along the west 

 coast of Greenland," so far as we can learn, the Hag has been taken on one occasion in the 



29. Linnaeus (Sys. Nat., 1758: 650), referring to this habit, wrote "aquam in glutem mutat." 



30. Apparently it does not occur around Iceland, for it is not included by Saemundsson (Skr. Komm. Havunders. 

 Kbh., No. 5, 1900) in his survey of Icelandic fishes. 



31. Eggs; Koefoed (Rep. Sars N. Atlantic Deep Sea Exped., 2k>ol., 4 [1], 1927: 18). 



32. Roule, Result. Camp. sci. Monaco, 52, 1919: 129. 



33. Schnakenbeck in Grimpe and Wagler, Tierwelt N- u. Ostsee, Lief 7, Teil izd, 1927: 3; Cons, explor. Mer., 

 Faune Ichthyol. N. Atlant., 1931. 



34. Mem. Harv. Mus. comp. Zool., 34, 1899: 348. 



35. MuUer (Vergl. Anat. Myxinoiden, Pt. i, 1835: 17, footnote) long ago rejected Bloch's (Schr. Ges. Naturf. 

 Freunde Berlin, 10, 1792: 251) suggestion that Myxine is in the Mediterranean, which was based on Aristotle's 

 account of the slime-producing habit of his Pholis. 



36. It has been credited repeatedly to Greenland on the strength of Fabricius' (Fauna Groenl., 1780: 344) charac- 

 terization of it as "rari in mari Groenlandico." But we find no other record of it among the many subsequent 

 lists of fishes of Greenland, east or west, except as noted above. 



