258 



LOWER VERTEBHATES. 



scales, a head ending in a blunt curved ])rofile, a deep-cleft and oblique mouth, strong 

 canine teeth in front of the jaws, lateral tubercular teeth on the sides of the lower, 

 and blunt pavement-like ones on the palate ; the dorsal fin is very long, and has only- 

 slender spines, and ventral fins are absent. Half a dozen species only are known, all 

 confined to the cold waters of the northern hemisphere, and represent two very differ- 

 ent genera — Anarrhichas and Anarrhichthys. 



The common wolf-fish of the North Atlantic {AnarrJdchas lupus) is a stout fish, 

 with a long median or vomerine band of teeth, reddish-brown, with some nine to 

 twelve dark cross bands, and many dark spots. It reaches a large size. One of three 

 feet long would weigh twenty pounds, and it has been said to occasionally attain a 

 length of six or seven feet, which, at the same ratio, would imply a weight of at least 

 cue hundred and sixty pounds. There may be some mistake or exaggeration here. 



Fig. \V,. — Anarrhic}mi lujms, ivolf-flsh. 



It ranges southward to France, in Europe, and New York on the American side, and 

 perhaps even further down in deep and cold water; and its distribution has been said 

 to be almost coincident with that of the halibut. 



The wolf-fish has very powerful jaws, and uses them to break the shells of crabs, 

 lobsters, and sea-urchins, as well as the much harder ones of clams and other shell- 

 fish. 



Savagery apjiears in the very appearance of the wolf-fish. " It is impossible," says 

 Mr. Goode, "to imagine a more voracious-looking animal than the sea cat-fish [another 

 of its names], with the massive head, and long sinuous muscular body, its strongly 

 rayed fins, its vise-like jaws, armed with great pavements of teeth, — those in front 

 long, strong, pointed, like those of a tiger." Its looks do not belie its character. It 

 is a very pugnacious animal, and " has been known to attack furiously persons wading 



