372 



FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



Under the name of "electric toad" this fish is known to all the fishermen 

 of the Beaufort region. The species ranges from Cape Hatteras to the West 

 Indies, but is nowhere abundant. It frequents sandy shores, and buries itself 

 with the exception of the eyes and lips while lying in wait for its prey. A speci- 

 men in the Beaufort laboratory is 10.75 inches long, but the species reaches a 

 length of 15 inches or more.* A star-gazer 2.5 inches long taken on Bird Shoal, 

 Beaufort Harbor, July 14, 1904, had the following colors: Back, sides, and head 

 black without spots; under parts white; opercle brownish; lower jaw, chin, and 

 throat jet black; fins as in adult. 



Fig. 170. Star-gazer. Astroscopus y-grcecum. 



The electric organ in this species is of a peculiar structure not found in any 

 other fishes, and in proportion to its size is said to be the most powerful known 

 in animals. 



Family BATRACHOIDIDiE. The Toad-fishes. 



A small family of marine, bottom fishes, with robust form, compressed pos- 

 teriorly and depressed anteriorly; large mouth with strong teeth; reduced gill- 

 openings, 3 gills, gill-membranes united to isthmus; no pyloric coeca; air-bladder 

 present; scaled or scaleless body; 2 dorsal fins, the anterior with 2 or 3 low spines, 

 the posterior very long and similar to anal; caudal rounded, free from dorsal and 

 anal; pectorals broad; ventrals large and jugular. About 5 American genera, of 

 which 2 are represented on the east coast of the United States, although 1 of 

 these (Porichthys) is recorded only as far north as South Carolina. 



Genus OPSANUS Rafinesque. Toad-fishes. 



Rather small carnivorous shore fishes, found mostly in warmer waters; 

 body stout, scaleless, with loose, wrinkled skin and obscure lateral line; numer- 

 ous flaps or ciri'i on head; mouth very wide, with fleshy lips and with a single 

 row of blunt teeth on jaws, vomer, and palatines; opercle with 2 concealed spines; 

 a large foramen in axil of pectorals; dorsal spines 3. Two American species, 1 in 

 the Gulf of Mexico and the following. (Opsanus, eye upward.) 



* Jenkins (1887) states that Dr. Coues obtained one specimen of Astroscopus gutiatus at Beaufort; but the 

 specimen referred to is listed by Yarrow (1877) as anoplus, a synonym of y-grcBCum. There is no record of the 

 occurrence of guUatus south of Virginia, but it may be looked for on the shores north of Cape Hatteras, which 

 locality is given by Jordan & Evermann (1898) as the southern limit of its range. 



