ANGLERS. 193 



Regalecus has no caudal fin, and the pelvic fin is composed of a 

 single fin-ray- The Oar-fish or Ribbon-fish [Regalecus glesne) 

 is occasionally cast up on the coasts of Cornwall and Yorkshire, 

 and off Bergen, in Norway. The Scandinavian fishermen call it 

 the " Sild-Kung" or King of the Herrings, and imagine that if 

 one is killed the Herrings will depart from the district. The 

 coloured drawing 887 is a life size representation of the Southern 

 Ribbon-fish, Regalecus argenteus, specimens of which are obtained 

 off New Zealand and Australia. A skeleton of Regalecus argenteus 

 twelve feet long is shown elsewhere in the Gallery. Some of the 

 " Sea-serpents " seen by sailors and others may have been large 

 specimens of the Ribbon-fish. Specimens of more than 25 feet 

 in length are known. 



Lophiiformes (Angler-fishes) . 



The Lophiiformes, known also as the Pediculati, are a suborder Wall- 

 of Teleostean fishes comprising the families Lophiidae (Angler- case 

 fishes), Ceratiidse, Antennariidae, and Malthidae (Bat-fishes). The 

 pectoral fins are set far back and the bones of the fins are 

 elongated : the pelvic fins are jugular in position. The head is 

 large, the gill-opening is small and far back, and the gills are 

 reduced in number to two or three on each side. One or more 

 dorsal fin-rays standing upon the head are modified into tentacular 

 structures known as el hires." The Lophiiform fishes are poor 

 swimmers and are mostly of sluggish habits. 



In the Lophiidae (fig. 92) the mouth is very large and has teeth 

 which are so hinged as to bend over towards the throat (see jaw 

 893). The skin is soft and bare. The fishes have a depressed 

 body and live on the bottom, at moderate or great depths. The 

 most familiar is the Angler-fish, Fishing-frog or Sea-devil, Lophius Angler. 

 piscatorius, 892, in which the first few dorsal fin-rays are set over 

 the snout and are long and flexible; they terminate in dermal 

 expansions which are the lures. The fish "angles" with these 

 lures, and by a sudden opening of its great mouth swallows such 

 small fishes as nibble at them. Around the margin of the body 

 are fringed lappets of skin which by their resemblance to sea-weed 



o 



