84 BRITISH FISH AND FISHERIES. 



sprinkled with small blackish spots. Common 

 as this fish is, it is not very frequently brought 

 to the London market, which is abundantly 

 supplied with the true smelt. 



Occasionally in the fish-markets or shops in 

 London are to be seen specimens of a ferocious 

 looking fish, called the wolf-fish, sea-wolf, or 

 sea-cat, (Anarrhichas lupus.) It belongs to the 

 family of the Gobies, (Gobio'idce.) 



This strange repulsive fish has an elongated 

 body, covered with small scales ; a long dorsal 

 fin extends down the whole of the back. There 

 are 110 ventral fins, and the pectorals are com- 

 paratively small, the head short and rounded, 

 and the markings of it, together with the position 

 of the glaring eyes, and the long sharp curved 

 front teeth, give a fierce cat-like expression. 

 The back teeth and those of the palate are in 

 close array, thick and tubercular, or rounded, 

 and well adapted for crushing crabs, lobsters, 

 and shell-fish. One of these fishes, of about 

 four feet long, the writer lately saw in London. 

 It attains, however, to the length of six or eight 

 feet, or even more. The wolf-fish is a native 

 of the high northern seas, and is common along 

 the shores of Greenland and Iceland ; yet it not 

 unfrequently appears on different parts of our 

 coast, especially those of Scotland, Yorkshire, 



