FISHES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY 
351 
dorsal and anal similar, placed posteriorly and opposite each other; caudal fin with round margin; 
pectoral fins short and broad, 1.85 to 2.35 in head. 
Color pale to yellowish green; orange to white underneath (sometimes brownish to blackish 
n young); upper parts with 12 to 16 dark brown or blackish longitudinal stripes; a large, black 
ocellus above pectoral and another behind it and still another on side of base of dorsal; side below 
dorsal sometimes with a black blotch; a small specimen (90 millimeters) with roundish black spots on 
lower part of side; fins pale green to yellowish or pale orange. 
This species is represented by 11 specimens, ranging in length from 90 to 225 millimeters 
(3M to 9 inches). This spiny puffer differs from the only other spiny puffer (the porpupine fish) 
recorded from Chesapeake Bay, in having proportionately shorter, blunter spines, which are im- 
movable. The spines of its relative are long, sharply pointed, and movable. 
The food in the stomachs of six specimens of this spiny puffer, which were examined, con- 
sisted wholly of hermit crabs. Small hermit crabs were swallowed inclosed in the shells that they 
occupied, and in case of larger ones the shells apparently were first broken. In one specimen 30 
undigested hermit crabs, with their shells, were present. Smith (1907, p. 351) says: “The strong, 
bony beak enables the fish to crush and eat mollusks and crustaceans, which are its principal food.” 
Nothing definite is known about the spawning of this fish, nor of the rate of growth. Some 
of the specimens taken at Ocean View, Va., during October, 1922, had nearly mature gonads. 
A maximum length of about 10 inches is attained. 
Fig. 210. — Chilomycterus schapfi 
The species was found during the present investigation only in the lower part of the bay, 
where it is rather uncommon. At Ocean View, Va., in 1,800-foot haul seines, 21 fish were caught 
from October 2 to October 23, 1922. Fishermen in this region said that occasionally as many 
as a dozen are caught in one day. All the fish seen were caught in May and October. The species 
has no commercial value. 
Habitat . — Massachusetts Bay to Florida; rather common from Chesapeake Bay southward. 
Chesapeake localities. — (o) Previous records: “Not uncommon along the coast (Maryland), 
entering bays’’ (Uhler and Lugger, 1876), and Cape Charles city, Va. (6) Specimens in collec- 
tion: Mobjack Bay, Cape Charles, Lynnhaven Roads, and Ocean View, Va. Uncommon. Speci- 
mens at hand were taken with a beam trawl by the Fish Hawk and in pound nets and haul seines. 
Order PEDICULATI 
Family XCII. — LOPHIlMi. The anglers 
Body broad anteriorly, diminishing rapidly in size from the shoulders backward; head large, 
very broad, depressed; mouth excessively large and broad; jaws, vomer, and palatines with bands 
of sharp teeth of uneven size; gills 3, the opening large, placed in lower axil of pectoral; gill rakers 
wanting; pseudobran chiaj present; scales wanting; head and sides with prominent dermal flaps; 
dorsal fins 2, widely separated, the spinous portion consisting of three separate tentaclelike spines 
on the head and three smaller ones connected by membrane; soft dorsal forming a normal fin; 
anal similar to soft dorsal; pectorals large and fleshy; ventrals jugular, far apart, with I, 5 rays. 
49826—28 23 
