MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 135 



spine which is attached to the top of the head near the 

 snout, and bears at its free end a soft fleshy appendage. 

 Fish of various species, and occasionally of considerable 

 size, attracted by the apparently tempting morsel, come 

 to examine it closely, when, with astonishing rapidity, 

 the huge mouth opens and engulfs the unsuspecting prey. 

 The appetite of the Angler is insatiable. A number of 

 instances are recorded wherein the attempt to swallow 

 aquatic birds of considerable size has resulted in the 

 capture of the fish. In June, 1901, an Angler, four feet 



Pig. XXXI. — Jbophius piscatorius, the Angler-fish (after Day.) x ^. 



six inches in length, was left stranded in Ehos Weir, near 

 Colwyn Bay, and a round brass tray twelve inches in 

 diameter was found so firmly fixed in the back of its 

 mouth that it could not be removed. The Angler is not 

 a marketable fish, but the flesh of the tail portion is edible, 

 and is said to possess a delicate flavour. The female 

 Angler produces about one and a quarter millions of eggs, 

 which, when extruded, do not float freely in the sea, but 

 are embedded in a great sheet of jelly-like mucus, from 

 60 to 100 feet square. In this the tiny larvae 

 remain for some days after they are hatched. The spine 



