170 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



Santa Barbara Channel iii summer, where it may be seen lying near the surface, or even some- 

 times leaping from the water. It is known to the Italians as the Mola, to the Americans as the 

 Sun Fish. It seldom appears before June, and disappears in the winter. No use is made of it, as 

 it is not easily caught, and rarely, if ever, eaten. A specimen weighing 636 pounds was brought 

 to San Francisco some years ago. 



There is a small species, Ranzania truncata, much more elongated in form, which has been 

 taken in various parts of the Atlantic and Pacific, but never nearer to our shores than the 

 Bermudas, where an individual of eight inches was captured in 1878. 



47. THE PORCUPINE FISHES DIODONTIDJE. 



SWELL FISHES AND PUFFERS. There are four species of this family inhabiting the Atlantic 

 coast, and two on the coast of California. The best known is the Swell Fish of New England, 

 Ghilomyctenm geometricus. These fishes are commonly known by such names as "Burr Fish,'" 

 "Ball Fish," "Swell Fish," and "Toad Fish"; while in Southern Florida the names "Porgy," 

 "Puffer," and "Puff Fish" are sometimes used. 



With their short, thick, spiny bodies, which they have the power of inflating to twice their 

 ordinary size, and their harlequin-like colors, they are always conspicuous, and are favorite fish 

 for aquaria. After they have inflated their bellies by swallowing air, they turn upon their backs 

 and swim at the surface. 



They have the power, when handled, of uttering loud grunting sounds. 



No practical use is made of them, but their skins are often stuffed and exposed for sale in 

 the curiosity shops, particularly those at places of p opular resort, like Nantucket, Oak Bluffs, 

 Jacksonville, and Saint Augustine. These fish belong to a tropical family, and are only seen 

 in summer. 



Nothing definite is known about their food or breeding habits. 



48. THE BELLOWS-FISH FAMILY TETRODONTIDJE. 



Of this family, which is extremely numerous in warm seas, over sixty species being known, 

 there are seven species in the waters of the United States, one of them being found on the California 

 coast. They are summer visitors from a warmer climate, and, like the members of the preceding 

 family, are chiefly important to curiosity hunters. They are known by such names as "Swell 

 Fish," "Bottle Fish," " Bellows Fish," "Egg Fish," "Babbit Fish," "Globe Fish," "Swell-toad," 

 "Box Fish," "Porcupine Fish," and "Blower." 



One species, the common Swell Fish, or Egg Fish, Tctrodon turgiAus, ranges from Cape Cod to 

 the Gulf of Mexico, being very abundant about the eastern end of Long Island, where a hundred 

 or more are sometimes taken in one haul of a fyke-net. 



The Babbit Fish, Lagocephalm Icevigatus, is known in New England waters through the occa- 

 sional visits of stragglers. It is quite abundant in the Gnlf of Mexico, where it is occasionally 

 taken with hook and line upon the red-snapper banks. According to Stearns, it breeds about 

 Pensacola in June and July. 



This fish, which attains the length of three feet and the weight of five or six pounds, is used 

 for food in Cuba, but it is not sufficiently abundant with us to have any commercial value. 



49. THE TRUNK FISHES OSTRACIONTIDJE. 1 



The Trunk Fishes, Ostraciontidai, are occasionally taken on our coasts, especially to the south 

 of Cape Hatteras. We have five species, one of them being Californian. Like the Porcupine and 



'See GOODK : A study of the Trunk Fishes (Ostraciontida), with notes upon the American species of the family. 

 <Proceedings United States National Museum, ii, 1880, pp. 261-283. 



