338 The National Geographic Magazine 



i^FiG. 2. — Young Angler taken out of the egg 

 just previous to hatching. [After A. Agassiz. ) 



and was trying to escape." There is 

 authentic record of seven wild ducks 

 having been taken from the stomach of 

 one of them. Slyly approaching from 

 below, they seize birds as they float 

 upon the surface. Reliable Cape Cod 

 fishermen, Captains Nathaniel E. At- 

 wood and Nathaniel Blanchard, assured 

 Dr D. H. Storer that "when opened 

 entire sea-fowl, such as large gulls, are 

 frequently found in their stomachs, 

 which they supposed them to catch 

 in the night, when they are floating 

 upon the surface of the water." Dr 

 Storer was also informed by Captain 

 Leonard West, of Chilmark, Mass., 

 that he had known a Goose-fish to be 

 taken having in its stomach six coots 

 in a fresh condition. These he consid- 

 ered to have been swallowed when they 

 had been diving to the bottom in search 

 of food. 



Any one who has looked into the vast 

 cavity behind the jaws of this fish will 

 concede the aptness of the name "All- 

 mouth." The fish is a most voracious, 

 carnivorous animal — indeed omnivor- 

 ous — and quite indiscriminate in its diet. 

 In Massachusetts it is said to annoy the 

 fishermen "by swallowing the wooden 

 buoys attached to the lobster pots," and 

 a man is stated to have caught one ' ' by 



Fig. 3.— Young Angler not long after hatch- 

 ing ; the yolkbag has entirely disappeared. 

 (After A. Agassiz. ) 



using his boat anchor for a hook." 

 Another feature of the fish is the slow- 

 ness of its digestive powers, which is 

 aptly illustrated by Couch, who says 

 that on one occasion there were found 

 in the stomach of this fish "nearly 

 three-quarters of a hundred herring ; 

 and so little had they suffered change 

 that they were sold by the fishermen in 

 the market without any suspicion in the 

 buyer of the manner in which they had 

 been obtained." 



The name "Angler" is not one in 

 general use among shoremen and fisher- 

 men. It is a book name, and was spe- 

 cially coined for the Lophius piscatorius 

 by Thomas Pennant in 1776. In his 

 British Zoology he says he ' ' changed 

 the old name of Fishing-frog for the 

 more simple one of Angler" simply be- 

 cause he did not like the former, which 

 was one of the popular names. There 

 was no lack, however, of other popular 

 names from which to choose. In Eng- 



Fig. 4. — Young Angler with 2 elongated 

 dorsal rays and rudiment of third and 2 large 

 ventral rays. (After A. Agassiz.) 



land the fish was known as the Fishing- 

 frog, Frog-fish, Toad-fish, Pocket-fish, 

 Monk- fish, Nass-fish, Sea-devil, Devil- 

 fish, Wide-gut, Wide-gap, and Kettle- 

 maw, and in America still other names 

 were employed. On the Massachusetts 

 coast it was known as the Goose-fish, 

 in Rhode Island as the Bellows-fish, 

 in Connecticut as the Molly-gut, and in 

 North Carolina as the All-mouth. 



Although the Angler in its adult 

 form is familiar to the fishermen of 

 most countries under some of its va- 

 rious names, little or nothing was 



