674 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



and also on lines fished for cod. The range of the species is, in 

 the north Atlantic, south to Cape Cod and France. It is A'ather 

 common both in America and Europe. In Norway the skin of 

 the fish is tanned and makes a very good leather. 



Group OPHIDIOIDBI 



Eelpouts 

 Family zoj^^flciida^e. 



Genus zoarces Gill 

 Body elongate, compressed, tapering posteriorly; head oblong, 

 heavy, narrowed above, the profile decurved; mouth large; teeth 

 strong, conic, bluntish, in two series in the front of each jaw 

 and one series on the sides; teeth in outer series larger; no teeth 

 on vomer or palatines; dorsal fin very long, low, some of its 

 posterior rays much lower than the others, developed as sharp 

 spines; pectoral fins broad; ventrals jugular, of three or four 

 soft rays; scales small, not imbricated, embedded in the skin; 

 lateral line slender, lateral in position; size large; species vivi- 

 parous. The American and Asiatic species (subgenus. Macro- 

 zoarces) differ from the European type of Zoarces 

 (Cuvier) in the increased number of fin rays and vertebrae. In 

 Zoarces viviparus (Linnaeus), the European eelpout, the 

 dorsal rays are about 100, the anal about 85, and the number 

 of vertebrae is proportionally diminished. 



332 Zoarces anguillaris (Peck) 

 Muttonfish; Ling; Eelpout 



Blennkis anguillaris Peck, Mem. Am, Ac. Sci. II, 46, figu're, 1804, New 



Hampshire. 

 Blennius ciliatus Mitchill, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y. I, 374, pi. I, fig. 6, 



1815. 

 Blennius 1a1)7-osMS Mitchill, op. cit. 375, pi. I, fig. 7, 1815. 

 Zoarces anguillaris Stoeee, Rep. Fish. Mass. 66, 1839; De Kay, N. Y. 



Fauna, Fishes, 155, pi. 16, fig. 45, 1842; Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. 



Ill, 296, 1861; Stoeer, Hist. Fish. Mass. 97, pi. XVII, fig. 4, 3867; 



GooDE & Bean, Bull. Essex Inst. XI, 9, 1879; Jordan & Gilbert, 



Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 784, 1883; H. M. Smith, Bull. U. S. F. C. 



1897, 106, 1898; Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus. Ill, 



2457, 1898; lY, pi. COOXI.VIII, fig. 850, 1900. 



The depth of the body is one seventh of the length, which is 

 six times the length of the head. Maxillary reaching beyond 



