454 REPORT OF THE 



This Puffer is occasionally taken in fall in Gravesend Bay. Five young were 

 obtained in the fall of 1897. On October 14, 1898, a large individual was obtained 

 from a pound near Clam Pond Cove, Great South Bay. This was the only one 

 collected during the season. 



At Woods Hole, Mass., Dr. Smith reports it not very common. Perhaps six 

 to a dozen are taken each year in traps in Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound, 

 mostly in September and October. All are about 11 or 12 inches long, small ones 

 never being seen. During 1900 several specimens of this fish were taken in the 

 vicinity of Woods Hole, Mass. ; three were caught in Narragansett Bay, the largest 

 weighing 10 pounds. 



The young of this fish appears to be not yet known; the smallest examples found 

 by the United States Fish Commission in Porto Rico were 2i4 inches long. 



188. Swellfish ; Puffer {SpJieroidcs maculatus Bl. & Schn.). 



The Swellfish, or Puffer, is called Curved Tetrodon, Puffer and Toadfish by 

 Mitchill. DeKay calls it the Common Puffer; he says it has received the popular 

 names of Puffer and Blower from its power of inflation when taken from the water. 

 He states that it is scarcely ever eaten, and that it is frequently taken with the hook 

 in fishing for Blackfish, and also in company with Cod and Haddock. 



Mitchill gives an interesting account of the inflation of this fish. This habit is 

 a protective one, by means of which the fish can readily escape from the closed 

 hand unless particular effort is made to retain it. When the abdomen is inflated 

 the Swellfish often remains on the surface of the water, and is driven by wind and 

 tide until it desires to sink, when the air is suddenly discharged and the abdomen 

 returns to its normal state. 



According to Ayres the fish arrives in Old Man's Harbor June i, and remains 

 until October. It possesses, in a remarkable degree, the power of changing its color 

 at will. If alarmed while lying on the sand at a time when it does not choose to 

 escape by swimming, the colors fade instantly to a dingy white, scarcely distinguish- 

 able from the sand on which the fish lies. If the alarm ceases, the original color 

 returns, and the fish is again easily discernible. 



It is found in Gravesend Bay at all times except during the cold months. 

 Adults were occasionally taken in 1898, and the young were abundant in Peconic 

 Bay and in every portion of Great South Bay investigated. Very few examples, 

 however, were obtained during July and August, 1901, in Great South Bay. The 

 smallest one seen, collected July 27, at Blue Point, was 2V^ inches long. 



The range of the Swellfish is from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico. The fish 



