22 The Under-Water World 



in the trade under the more aristocratic 

 name of " rock salmon." When adult 

 the angler lives upon the sea-bed, crawl- 

 ing about painfully by means of spade- 

 like breast fins, and relying for sustenance 

 upon the unsuspecting fishes which it 

 lures within reach of its capacious mouth 

 by means of the long flexible ray of 

 its first dorsal fin which terminates in 

 a wormlike expansion and acts as a 

 live bait. In its larval and post-larval 

 stages, however, the head is even more 

 disproportionate than in the adult form, 

 and would drag the little creature to the 

 sea-bed but for an enormous air sac 

 situated over the eyes which makes the 

 immature angler look like a balloon. At 

 this stage its breast fins, shaped like 

 those of a butterfly, are enormous and 

 propel the infant fish through the water 

 at a high speed. 



The newly-born eels that are hatched 

 at a great depth in mid- Atlantic are leaf- 



