The Purple Veil 



339 



FiG. 5.— Young Angler showing still greater 

 increase in length and number of anterior 

 dorsal and ventral rays. (After A. Agassiz.) 



known about its young until the dis- 

 covery of the embryonic fish within their 

 floating cradle in the "purple veil," 

 and their subsequent identification as 

 Anglers by development under observa- 

 tion. Dr Theodore Gill has now brought 

 together the scattered fragments of 

 knowledge relating to the development 

 of this fish in an illustrated article pub- 

 lished among the Smithsonian Miscella- 

 neous Collections (vol. 47, part 4, May 

 6, 1905), entitled "The Life History of 

 the Angler." All the statements given 

 here are taken from this article. 



Figures 1 , 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 illus- 

 trate various stages in the development 

 of the Angler from the egg within the 

 purple veil up to almost the adult form. 

 In the stage of development shown by 

 figure 6 the little fish when viewed from 

 above, as in figure 7, reminds us some- 

 what of a long- tailed butterfly. In fig- 

 ure 8 the characteristic seaweed-looking 

 appendages have been developed, and 

 the fish is almost adult. In figure 9 the 

 adult form is shown, and the peculiar 

 nasal appendage with its frond-like ex- 



tremity, which is supposed to serve as a 

 bait for other fish, is well seen. The 

 book name "Angler" is peculiarly ap- 

 propriate to this fish in view of the fact 

 that its chief occupation in life seems to 

 consist in lying quietly at the bottom of 

 the sea angling for other fish. Accord- 

 ing to Day, it often lies as if dead, 

 "while its floating filaments, kept in 

 motion by the tide, decoy other fish, and 

 the Angler's tendril is no sooner touched 

 than the game is caught." 



Dr Theodore Gill quotes an interesting 

 account of this fish written by Saville 

 Kent, who had excellent opportunities 

 of observing a large individual in the 

 Manchester Aquarium in 1874. 



Fig. 6. — Young Angler in oldest pelagic stage, 

 measuring 30 millimeters in length, seen in 

 profile. (After A. Agassiz.) 



FiG. 7. — Young Angler of oldest pelagic stage, 

 seen from above. (After A. Agassiz. ) 



The attention of Saville Kent was 

 struck by the marvelous way in which 

 this specimen would disappear in the 

 aquarium without any apparent hiding 

 place. " He is ever slinking off to the 

 rock- work, and establishing himself so 

 closely in some snug corner that it re- 

 quires, notwithstanding his large size, a 

 considerable amount of diligent search 

 to detect him." 



While the creature lay perfectly still, 



