FISHES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY 
353 
forms a sheet or veil often 20 to 30 feet long and 2 or 3 feet broad. It is supposed that each sheet 
is the product of a single female, and it has been estimated that one ovary may contain considerably 
more than 1,000,000 eggs. The eggs are spherical or slightly oval and 2.13 to 2.5 millimeters in 
diameter. The length of the period of incubation is not known. The recently hatched larvae 
that are at hand (preserved in alcohol) are only about 3 millimeters long. Six days later larvae 
of this same collection and age had dissolved the yolk sac and were 5 millimeters long (after preserva- 
tion). These larvae show a dorsal fin ray or spine in the finfold at the nape; the ventral fins, too, 
are present as a long membranous fold. Considerable dark pigment is present on the head, and 
three dark areas, about evenly spaced, appear on the axis of the body. For an extended account 
and illustrations of the embryology and larval development the reader is referred to Bigelow and 
Welsh (1925, pp. 528 to 532). 
This fish is reported to reach a maximum length of 4 feet and a weight as great as 70 pounds. 
The single adult observed in Chesapeake Bay during the present investigation, as already stated, 
was nearly 42 inches long. The goosefish is regularly marketed in northern Europe, and its meat 
is reported to be white and of good flavor. It probably finds no sale in this country because of its 
repulsive appearance. Although previously not recorded from Chesapeake Bay, the species is 
not especially rare there. According to the fishermen of the southern sections of the bay, a few 
are taken each year in pound nets in late fall and early spring. It is probable that it occurs in this 
part of the bay in limited numbers throughout the winter. However, as no fishing is done there 
in the winter this can not be stated definitely. 
Habitat . — Both coasts of the northern Atlantic; in shallow water on the American coast, from 
Newfoundland Banks and the Gulf of St. Lawrence to North Carolina, and in deep water as far 
south as the Barbadoes. 
Chesapeake localities . — (a) Previous records: None. (6) Specimens in collection: From off 
Cape Charles, Va.; specimen observed in Lynnhaven Roads, Va.; also reliably reported by pound- 
net fishermen at Buckroe Beach, Va. 
Family XCIII.— ANTENNARIIDAE. The frogfishes 
Body and head compressed; mouth large, vertical or very oblique; premaxillaries protractile; 
lower jaw projecting; teeth in the jaws in villiform bands; gill arches 2.5 or 3; gill openings very 
small, near the lower axil of pectorals; pseudobranchise wanting; spinous dorsal consisting of one 
to three detached, tentaclelike spines; soft dorsal long and high; anal similar but smaller; pectorals 
large; ventrals jugular, close together. This family is composed of small pelagic fishes, chiefly of 
the tropics, usually living among floating seaweed and becoming widely scattered by winds and 
currents. 
159. Genus HISTRIQ Fischer. Sargassum fishes; Mouse fishes 
Body short, somewhat compressed; mouth small, oblique; palatine teeth present; skin smooth 
or with minute tubercules and with dermal tentacles; soft dorsal preceded by three spines, the first 
spine slender and expanded at tip, forming a lure or bait; ventral fins well developed, rather long; 
wrist and pectoral fins slender. This is a group of oddly shaped fishes that live in dense vegetation, 
to which the individuals attach themselves by means of their handlike pectorals. Two American 
species have been recognized; one of these occasionally drifts northward along the coast. 
201. Histrio histrio (Linnaeus). Sargassum fish; Mouse fish. 
Lophius histrio Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. X, 1758, p. 237; open sea. 
Pterophryne Iseviyata Uhler and Lugger, 1876, ed. I, p. 93; ed. II, p. 77. 
Pterophryne histrio Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2716. 
“Head 2J4; depth 1 D. III-14; A. 7; V. 5. Skin of head and body as well as dorsal fins 
with fleshy tags, which are most numerous on the dorsal spines and abdomen. Wrist slender; 
ventrals large, nearly one-half as long as head. Dorsal and anal with the posterior rays not adnate 
to caudal peduncle; first dorsal spine bifurcate at tip. Yellowish, marbled with brown; three dark 
bands radiating from eye; vertical fins barred with brown; belly and sides with small white spots.” 
(Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900.) 
