400 FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



skin and dorsal fins witli flaps or appendages; 3 detaclied dorsal spines; pectoral 

 base slender; ventrals long and expanded. Two known species. {Pterophyrne, 

 wing toad.) 



346. PTEROPHRYNE HISTRIO (Linnseus). 



Mouse-fish; Sargassuni-fish. 



Lophius histrio Linnaeus, Systema Naturse, ed. x, 237, 1758. 



Pterophryne histrio, Jordan & Evermann, 1898, 2716, Gudger, 1905c, 841-843; Beaufort. 



Diagnosis. — Depth more than .5 total length; head about .5 length; eye small, .5 snout; 

 dermal flaps numerous on abdomen and dorsal spines, but also on head and sides; dorsal 

 formula iii + 14, the spines large, the anterior spine bifurcate at tip; anal rays 7; caudal rounded; 

 pectoral rays 10; ventrals about .5 head, longer than pectorals. Color: yellow, with large 

 irregular light and dark brown mottlings and small white spots; vertical fins barred with 

 brown, (histrio, a harlequin.) 



When masses of gulf-weed, or Sargassum, are blown ashore from the Gulf 

 Stream, this species is often found under them, its colors in wonderful harmony 

 with the seaweed. Numbers of specimens have thus been noted in Beaufort 

 Harbor. The original habitat of the fish is the tropical Atlantic, but it has been 

 involuntarily distributed along our east coast as far north as Woods Hole, Mass., 

 where it is at times common in summer. The length of the adult fish is 3.5 to 6 

 inches. 



The habits of the species are known chiefly from its behavior in aquaria. 

 The fish are cannibaUstic, denuding their fellows of their fleshy appendages and 

 fins and sometimes swallowing their smaller companions whole. 



Our knowledge of the spawning habits and eggs of the species depends almost 

 entirely on observations at the government laboratories at Woods Hole and Beau- 

 fort. The spawning season is from July to October, and a number of captive 

 specimens have laid their curious egg-rafts while in aquaria. The eggs are 

 deposited in a band- or ribbon-like mass from 1.5 to more than 3 feet long, about 

 3 inches wide, and .25 inch thick; they are only one-fortieth of an inch in diam- 

 eter, and very numerous, and are held together by a transparent jelly which is 

 buoyant. Nothing is known about the embryology, as the eggs have not been 

 fertilized. On July 25, 1903, a fish 3.5 inches long which had been at the Beau- 

 fort laboratory for 7 weeks laid a mass of eggs three times as large as the fish. 

 This specimen and its eggs w-ere studied and reported on by Prof. E. W. Gudger, 

 of the State Normal College at Greensboro, North Carolina. 



Family OGCOCEPHALIDtE. The Bat-fishes. 



In this family of pediculate fishes, the flattening of the head is carried even 

 further than in the anglers (Lophiidse); the trunk is relatively small and slender; 

 the snout is more or less elevated; the teeth are in bands, and either villiform or 

 cardiform; the gill-openings are minute slits above the base of the pectorals; the 

 branchiostegals number 5, and no pseudobranchise are present; the skin is cov- 

 ered with small bony spines or tubercles; the spinous dorsal fin is represented 

 by a tentacle under the elongated forehead; the soft dorsal and anal are very 



