ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLKTIX. 



963 



THE EEL-POUT 



tadpole than a fish, is interesting to the natural- 

 ist from many points of view, but he is certainly 

 not pretty. The fishermen are not friendly 

 toward him. for he is a voracious feeder and his 

 appetite is wholly incommensurate with his size. 

 For this reason he makes away with the bait in- 

 tended for some larger fish and when he ; s 

 hooked he is good for nothing. But the visitor 

 at the Aquarium always looks twice at the queer 

 little fish with the bull-dog jaws, which appears 

 to be, and in reality is, the personification of 

 piscine impudence. 



The eel-pout, also known as the muttonfish, 

 possesses several important points of ugliness, 

 as the figure shows. But it is a useful fish and 

 perhaps for that reason its appearance should 

 be excused. It reaches a length of about three 

 feet and has considerable importance as a food 

 fish. 



Another local fish that can easily qualify for 

 this article is the orange file- 

 fish. This species, which is 

 greatly lacking- in the matter 

 of color, form and move- 

 ment, was discussed in the 

 November. 1912, Bulletin. 

 A glance at the frontispiece 

 of the Bulletin mentioned 

 will show why the visitors 

 at the Aquarium find it dif- 

 ficult to pass the filefish 

 tank. 



The gurnards or sea- 

 robins are often gorgeously 

 colored, a fact which has led 

 some writers to refer to 

 them as handsome fishes. It 

 is evident, however, that 

 such persons could have 

 looked no farther than the 

 colors or they would have 

 hesitated to apply such a 

 term to any fish with a head 

 like a sea-robin's. It looks 

 very much as though nature, 

 realizing that she had made 

 a mistake in giving the sea- 

 robin such a head, had tried 

 to even things up by adding 

 the bright colors. Any one 

 can see at a glance that it is only a compromise. 

 The sculpin is rather handsomely barred 

 with black and greenish, but no one would be 

 misled on that account into calling him a beauti- 

 ful fish. In the words of DeKay, "When fresh- 

 ly taken from the water and irritated they do 

 present rather a formidable appearance. The 

 head is swollen to twice its usual size by the dis- 

 tension of the branchial membranes ; the spines 

 stand out prominently, and the rays of all the 

 fins become erect." But even when quietly 

 resting in the water the sculpin is sufficiently 

 uncouth in appearance. 



Compared with its relative the sea-raven, 

 however, the sculpin becomes quite a normal 

 appearing fish, for the sea-raven looks as though 

 he were designed for the express purpose of 

 frightening naughty water babies into decent 

 behavior. The head, which appears to have 

 been originallv intended for a much larger fish. 



i^K 





\ COMMON SEA-ROBIN 



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