438 
Fishes. 
sucker, and chiefly remarkable for the singular append- 
age observable on its head. It possesses similar tenacity 
of suction. The utility of this faculty to animals inha- 
biting the rocky shores and turbulent seas of Greenland 
is sufficiently obvious. 
THE ANGLER. (Lopliius piscatorius.) 
This extraordinary fish is occasionally met with on our 
coasts, and is commonly known by the names of the 
Fishing Frog, Toad Fish, and Sea Devil. In shape it is 
the most uncouth and unsightly of the piscatory tribe, 
resembling the frog in its tadpole state. It grows to a 
large size. A specimen taken in the sea, near Scar- 
borough, was between four and five feet in length, the 
head considerably larger than the body, round .at the 
circumference, flat above ; the mouth is of a prodigious 
size, being a yard in width, and armed with sharp teeth. 
It lives, as it were, in ambush at the bottom of the 
sea, and by means of its fins stirs up the mud and sand, 
so as to conceal itself from other fishes on whom it 
preys* The manner in which it procures its prey is 
very extraordinary, the peculiarity of its construction 
forbidding the possibility of rapid movement. Two long 
tough filaments are placed above the nose, each of them 
furnished with a thin appendage, closely resembling 
a fishing-line when baited and flung out. The back 
is provided with three others, united by a web, and 
forming the first dorsal fin. Pliny notices these remark- 
able appendages, and explains their use. " The Fishing 
