720. The Blennies: Blenniidz 
In the wolf-eel (Anarrhichthys ocellatus) of the coast of Cali- 
fornia, the head is formed as in Anarhichas but the body is 
band-shaped, being drawn out into a very long and tapering 
tail. This species, which is often supposed to be a “sea-serpent,” 
sometimes reaches a length of eight feet. It is used for food. 
It feeds on sea-urchins and sand-dollars (Echinarachinius) 
which it readily crushes with its tremendous teeth. 
The skull of a fossil genus, Laparus (alticeps), with a resem- 
blance to Anarhichas, is recorded from the Eocene of England. 
The Eel-pouts: Zoarcide.—The remaining blenny-like forms 
lack fin spines, agreeing in this respect with the codfishes and 
their allies. In all of the latter, however, the hypercoracoid 
is imperforate, the pseudobranchiz are obsolete, and the tail 
isocercal. The forms allied to Zoarces and Ophidion, and which 
we may regard as degraded blennies, have homocercal (rarely 
leptocercal) tails, generally but not always well-developed pseu- 
dobranchiz and the usual foramen in the hypercoracoid. 
The Zoarcide, or eel-pouts, have the body elongate, naked, 
or covered with small scales, the dorsal and anal of many soft 
rays and the gill-openings confined to the side. Most of the 
species live in rather deep water in the Arctic and Antarctic 
regions. Zoarces viviparus, the “mother of eels,’’ is a commen 
fish of the coasts of northern Europe. In the genus Zoarces, 
Fig. 686.—Eel-pout, Zoarces anguillaris Peck. Eastport, Me. 
the last rays of the dorsal are short and stiff, like spines. The 
species are viviparous; the young being eel-like in form, the 
name ‘‘ mother of eels”’ has naturally arisen in popular language. 
The American eel-pout, sometimes called mutton-fish, Zoarces 
anguillaris, is rather common north of Cape Cod, and a similar 
species, Zoarces elongatus, is found in northern Japan. 
Lycodopsis pacifica, without spines in the dorsal, replaces 
Zoarces in California. The species of Lycodes, without spines 
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