WOLF-PISHES, SCULPINS, AND WEASSES. 247 



K.— WOLF-FISHES, SCULPINS, AND WRASSES. 



75. THE LYCODES FAMILY— LYCODIDiE. 



This family is represented on our Atlantic coast by eight or ten species, and on the Pacific coast 

 by three others. They are large-headed, elongate fishes, with eel-like bodies, covered with a lax, 

 thick, slimy skin, and for the most part inhabit very deep water, and are seldom seen except by 

 the naturalist, and by the fisherman, who counts them among the refuse products of his lines. 



Mutton-fish. — The Mutton-fish, Zoarees angtiiUaris, called Congo Eel and Ling, and also 

 Lamper Eel, especially by the Maine fishermen, is often seea near the shore north of Cape Cod, 

 and in winter especially is frequently taken with hook and line from the wharves. This species 

 occasionally attains the length of three feet and the weight of six or seven pounds. 



The Mutton-fish feeds upon crustaceans and mollusks, and spawns in July and August in the 

 deep waters of Massachusetts Bay, its eggs being as large as buckshot and not very numerous. 

 The young fish are frequently taken in the Pish Commission trawl-nets. This species has been 

 I'ecorded as far south as Port Macon, in North Carolina, where Dr. Yarrow claims to have taken 

 two specimens, fishing from one of the wharves; and H. E. Storer found it in Southern Labrador, 

 at Bras d'Or, where he observed that it was frequently taken in the herring seines. In Northern 

 Europe is an allied species, Z. viviparus, which brings forth its young alive, the embryos attaining 

 a length of four or five centimeters before leaving the mother, and in the Baltic making their 

 appearance in August or later. Malm records the capture in Southern Sweden, November 17, 

 1873, of a female with three hundred fully developed young, about forty millimeters long. It is 

 not yet definitely determined whether or not our species is viviparous, but it seems somewhat 

 improbable, although one taken in Gloucester Harbor, at a depth of eight fathoms, in a tempera- 

 ture of 41° P., July 30, 1878, contained eggs which seemed almost mature enough to be deposited. 

 This is known in Germany as the Aalmutter, or Mother of Eels; in Holland, Puit Aal; in Scot- 

 land as the Bard or Maroona Bel; in England as the Guffer, Bel-pout, or Green-bone; and in 

 Southern Sweden as the Aolkussa; the distribution of which is limited on the south by the 

 English Channel, on the north by the North Cape and Varanger Pjord, latitude 71°. It enters 

 the Baltic, where it is frequently taken on the Prussian coast, especially about Memel. 



The Mutton-fish, like the Wolf-fish, or Sea Catfish, is one of those species which, while possess- 

 ing excellent qualities as a food-fish, is not generally eaten. Mitchill speaks of having seen them 

 in considerable numbers in the New York markets in March, 1813, and De Kay in 1842 wrote: " I 

 have noticed this fish is most abundant in the New York markets in Pebruary and March. It is 

 caught on the coast in company with the common cod. It feeds on various marine shells and 

 affords a very savory food." 



In Gill's paper oh the " Pishes of New York Markets," written in 1856, this fish is not men- 

 tioned as one of the kinds at that time sent to New York. 



Storer writes : " It feeds upon the mollusca and testacea, and the flesh of the young fish is 

 sweet and very palatable. It is seldom met with in Boston market ; occasionally, however, it is 

 brought in by the cod-fishermen of Massachusetts Bay." 



It is occasionally eaten by the Cape Ann fishermen, by whom it is known as the Mutton-fish, 



