FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 151 



L. vulgaris. Ciiv. The Lump sucker. Lump fish. 



Pennani's British Zoology, vol. iii, p. 117, et fig. 



S track's Plates, 11. 1. 



Richardson's Fauna, iii. 2fi0. 



Trans. Lit. et I'hilosoph. Soc. vol. i, p. 480, et fig. 



Mc Murtrie's Cuv. vol. ii p. 254. 



Yarrell's British Fishes, vol. ii, p. 270, et fig. 



This not uncommon species in Massachusetts Bay is fre- 

 quently seen after severe storms washed upon our beaches. 

 Occasionally, it is taken in fishing for cod, with the hook ; 

 generally, however, it is found attached to sea-weed and other 

 floating substances near the shore. Richardson tells us that 

 " The Greenlanders eat its flesh either cooked or dried, and its 

 skin raw, throwing away only the tubercles ;" and Dr. Neal 

 observes " that it is purchased at Edinburgh for the table." 

 With us, however, it is not used as an article of food. The 

 common weight of this fish is from 3 to 4 pounds, and 6 to 12 

 pounds. Mr. Jonathan Johnson of Nahant sent me a specimen 

 from that place weighing 15 pounds, being two feet in length. 

 And Mr. Covell, fishmonger in Quincy market, presented me 

 with another, weighing 17 pounds. The whole appearance of 

 this fish is very forbidding, being, in young specimens, a soft, ge- 

 latinous, tremulous mass ; in older specimens, it is much firmer ; 

 but in both, is covered entirely with firm, horny spines. My 

 description is taken from a specimen 17 inches in length. 



Length of the specimen^ exclusive of the tail, 14 inches ; length 

 of the head, 4i inches ; greatest depth, from the top of the ridge 

 on the back to the abdomen, 8 inches. Color of all the upper 

 part of the body, a bluish slate ; beneath, yellowish. The 

 whole surface of the fish is covered with an immense number of 

 small stellated tubercles, studding even the rays of all the fins. 

 Three rows of tubercles, much larger than those which are uni- 

 versally distributed over the fish, are observed projecting from 

 either side. One row commencing at the upper anterior angle 

 of the eye, curves slightly over the humeral bones, and then 

 passes in nearly a straight line to the tail ; a second row, com- 



