844 contributions to north american ichthyology iv. 



Family CXXIV.— LOPHIID^. 



{The Fishing Frogs.) 



Head wide, depressed, very large. Body contracted, conical, taper- 

 ing rapidly backward from the shoulders. Mouth exceedingly large, 

 terminal, opening into an enormous stomach; upper jaw protractile; 

 maxillary without supplementary bone; lower jaw projecting; both jaws 

 with very strong, unequal, cardiform teeth, some of the teeth canine- 

 like, most of them depressible; vomer and palatines usually with strong 

 teeth. Gill-openings comparatively large, in the lower axil of the -peato- 

 rals. PseudobranchisB j)resent. Gill-rakers none. Skin mostly smooth, 

 naked, with many dermal flaps about the head. Spinous dorsal of three 

 isolated, tentacle-like spines on the head, and three smaller ones behind, 

 which form a continuous fin; second dorsal moderate, similar to the anal ; 

 pectoral members scarcely geniculated, each with two actinosts and with 

 elongate pseudobrachia; ventrals jugular, I, 5, widely separated. Py- 

 loric coeca x>resent. A single genus, with three or more species, living 

 on sea-bottoms; remarkable for their great voracity. 



(Pediculati part, geuus Lophius Gunther, iii, 178-182.) 



466.-I.OPHIUS Liunjieus. 

 Fishing Frogs. 

 (Artedi; Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. 1758: tjiie LopMus piscatorius Li.) 



Characters of the genus included above. {Lophius, the ancient name 

 of L. p'iscatorius, from Xocpuq^ a crest.) 



13®2. li. piscalOB'iaas. — Fishing-frog; Monlc-fisli ; Goose-fish; AU-moutli; Bellows- 



finh ; Angler. 



Brownish, mottled, below white; mouth behind the hyoid bone im- 

 maculate ; pectorals and caudal black at tip ; peritoneum black. Body 

 depressed, tapering, scarcely longer than head. Humeral spine with 

 three points, of which the posterior is the longest. Head surrounded 

 with a fringe of barbels; top of head, in young, with many strong 

 spines. Anterior dorsal spine elongate, fleshy at tip. D. I-I-T, III — 

 10; A. 9. L. 3 feet. Korth Atlantic, on both coasts; generally com- 

 mon, from North Carolina northward. A fish of singular uglmess of 

 appearance. 



(Linn. Syst. Nat.; Giiutlier, iii, 179: Lophius amerieanus Cuv. & Val. xii, 380.) 



