THE ANGEL-FISH. 
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ANGEL-FISH .— Squatina vulgaris. 
too coarse for' the table, though it was formerly in some estimation, so that the creature is 
useless to the fisherman, who can only avenge himself for his losses by killing the destructive 
creature, but cannot repay himself by eating or selling it. The skin, however, being rough, 
is of some small use in the arts, being dried and employed, like that of the dog-fish, for polish- 
ing joiner’s work, and it is in some places manufactured into a sort of shagreen. 
The eyes are set rather far back on the upper part of the head, and a little behind each 
eye is the temporal orifice, very large, in proportion to the dimensions of the fish, very long, 
and set transversely on the head. The wide mouth, which opens in front of the head and not 
below as in the sharks, is furnished with rather long and sharply-pointed teeth. The color of 
which it feeds It is also known by the name of Monk-fish, in allusion to the rounded head, 
which was thought to bear some resemblance to the shaven crown of a monk; and in some 
places is called the Shark Rat because it seems to be one of the connecting links between the 
sharks and the rays, and has many of the characteristics of both. On some parts of the 
English coasts it is known as the Kingston. 
It has many of the habits of the flat-fishes, keeping near the bottom, and even wriggling 
its way into the muddy sand of the sea-bed so as to conceal its entire body. As in the course 
of these movements it disturbs many soles, plaice, flounders, and other flat-fishes that inhabit 
the same localities, it snaps them up as they endeavor to escape, and devours great quantities 
of them, so that it is really a destructive fish upon a coast. 
It is most common upon the southern shores, and has there been taken of considerable 
size, attaining a weight of a hundred pounds. Unfortunately, the flesh is now thought to be 
