356 FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



of body; a fringed white flap on anterior nostril; dorsal and anal fins irregularly marbled; 

 caudal white, with a broad median and a narrow terminal vertical black bar; pectorals 

 obscurely barred; ventrals blackish blue, {hrasiliensis, inhabiting Brazil.) 



,/.//"/ / ^ 



S'^.^'^^^^m 



w 



\^ X 



^^'S^,^^^" 



Fig. 161. Scorpion-fish. Scorpoena hrasiliensis. 



The foregoing description is based on several specimens, under 2 inches long, 

 taken on Uncle Israel Shoal, Beaufort Harbor, July 20, 1904. The species 

 ranges from Brazil northward, probably occurring regularly as far as Cape Hat- 

 teras, although not previously recorded north of South Carolina. 



Family COTTID.E. The Sculpins. 



The sculpins constitute an exceedingly numerous and varied family, found 

 chiefly along the shores of northern regions; some, however, occur at great depths 

 and some are confined to streams and lakes. The principal characters of the 

 family are a usually broad and depressed head, from which the elongate fusiform 

 or compressed trunk tapers backward to a rather slender peduncle; head either 

 smooth or spiniferous; large mouth, with teeth in bands on jaws; protractile pre- 

 maxillaries; large eyes, placed high on the head and usually separated by a 

 narrow space; spinous processes usually present on preopercle; suborbital con- 

 nected with preopercle by a bony stay; united gill-membranes, which are joined 

 to or free from isthmus; 3.5 or 4 gill-arches with short or rudimentary gill-rakers; 

 body naked, partly scaled, or partly covered with prickles or plates; lateral line 

 present; air-bladder usually lacking; pyloric coeca few'; dorsal fins either separate 

 or connected, with 6 to 18 usually weak spines and rather numerous soft rays; 

 anal fin without spines; caudal fin truncate or rounded; large pectoral fins with 

 broad base; thoracic ventral fins (rarely absent), with 1 spine and 3 to 5 soft rays. 

 The sculpins have little value as food, but are sometimes eaten and also used as 

 bait; they must, however, be of considerable importance, owing to their wide 

 distribution, and some of them are known to be very destructive to fish eggs. 

 Of the 50 or more American genera only 1 is represented in the state. 



