254 NATURAL HISTOEY OP AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



mention. This is the common Lump-fish, Gyclopteriis lumpus, ^novm in England by the names 

 " Lump sucker," " Sea-owl," " Coek-paddle," and by numerous local appellations. This fish is widely 

 distributed throughout the entire North Atlantic, ranging on our coast from the mouth of the Chesa- 

 peake to the Straits of Belle Isle, abundant in Greenland and Iceland, along the entire western 

 coast of Scandinavia, from the North Cape to the Cattegat, entering the Baltic, and not rare along 

 the shores of East and West Prussia, well known in Holland, Northern France, and everywhere 

 in the British Isles. The largest English specimen recorded weighed eleven and a half pounds; 

 the largest on our own coast, as observed by Storer, eighteen and three-quarters pounds. 



"The Lump-flsh," writes Benecke, "lives on the bottom of the sea, swims slowly and with diffi- 

 culty, and in May and June comes into shallow water to spawn. The male makes pits in the sand, 

 between the stones, in which the female deposits its eggs. The male watches over the eggs, and 

 later over the tender young which cling to its body with their suckers. The number of eggs ranges 

 from 200,000 to 400,000. It is a voracious species, which preys upon small crustaceans, mollusks, 

 and flsh-spawn." 



Benecke's observations were made in the southern part of the Baltic ; the spawning time is 

 recorded by him as probably not very different from that in Southern New England. Young speci- 

 mens from one-fourth to one inch in length are very abundant in Southern Massachusetts and Con- 

 necticut in Julj' and August, swimming at the surface. They have not yet assumed the ponderous, 

 unwieldy shape of the adults, and swim much more rapidly and gracefully. In Sweden, according 

 to Malm, the spawning time is in June; "In England," says Yarrell, "in April and the beginning 

 of May" — dates which correspond precisely to those given by Pabricius for Greenland. 



The male Lump-fish is said to be very fierce in defense of its young, and to be able to protect 

 them from much larger fish than themselves, even from the wolf -fish. It is, in its turn, a favorite 

 prey for the seals and wolf-fish. At the time of the spawning season the ordinary translucent 

 green color of the body becomes much brighter, and the under parts of the fish are of a brilliant 

 red. After spawning, the red disappears and the general color of the body becomes dull. When 

 in the season of the brightest coloration they are frequently shown in the fish markets, where their 

 remarkable appearance attracts much attention. 



"If the authority of Sir Walter Scott is to pass current in gastronomy," writes Eichardson, 

 "Lump, or Cock-paidle, as it is named in Scotland, is a fish of good quality, for he makes Mr. Old- 

 buck give the same price for one that he does for the bank-fluke or turbot." 



Parnell states: "On the west coast of Scotland sometimes as many as two dozen are taken in 

 the salmon nets at almost every tide, principally in the month of June, when they seek the sandy 

 ground to deposit their spawn. The fishermen boil them down with vegetables for their pigs, and 

 consider them to be fattening food. The flesh, when cooked, is soft and very rich, and is considered 

 by some of the inhabitants of Edinburgh as a luxury; but there are few stomachs with which it 

 agrees, in consequence of its oily nature. The males are considered the best for the table." In 

 Scotland it is also sometimes eaten in a salted state. 



Buckland also has an opinion on record : " So great is the difference between the diff'erent 

 specimens that our fishermen consider them to be distinct species and call them the "Eed-lump" 

 and the " Blue-lump," but the difterence in color and flavor is only the effect of the season. I do 

 not like the flesh at all myself; it is like a glue pudding." 



It is stated that the Greenlanders eat the flesh either cooked or dried and the skin raw, while 

 they eat the roe, which is remarkably large, after having reduced it by boiling it to a pulp. 



Perley records that " In the spring the Lump-flsh approaches the shores of New Brunswick 



