File:Zoological Society bulletin (1913) (14763014302).jpg

Identifier: zoologicalsociet55601newy (find matches)
Title: Zoological Society bulletin
Year: 1901 (1900s)
Authors: New York Zoological Society
Subjects: Zoology
Publisher: (New York) : New York Zoological Society
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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COMMON TOADFISH He is as impudent as lie is worthless. TOAD-FISH (Ventral view-)He looks like a wide-mouthed tadpole. ing jealousy. His disposition is ugly too, andhis sharp teeth, like a pair of nippers, are wellfitted for biting off the tails and fins of hisneighbors or for taking a piece out of the un-wary finger. Yet the puffer is not without hisinteresting points. His habit of inflating him-self into a ball by means of either air or water,which is retained by a valve in the throat is oneof the curiosities of nature. Mitchill mentionsthat it is a piece of sport common enoughamong fishermen to burstthem between two stones,when the air is let loosewith a noise almost equal tothe report of a pistol.While this may be entertain-ing to the fishermen, it israther hard on the fish, andit is not to be encouraged.The puffer is ugly and in-teresting in about equal pro-portions. The toadfish, flat-headedand big-bellied and lookingmore like a wide-mouthed ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 963
Text Appearing After Image:
THE EEL-POUT tadpole than a fish, is interesting to the natural-ist from many points of view, but he is certainlynot pretty. The fishermen are not friendlytoward him, for he is a voracious feeder and hisappetite is wholly incommensurate with his size.For this reason he makes away with the bait in-tended for some larger fish and when he ;shooked he is good for nothing. But the visitorat the Aquarium always looks twice at the queerlittle fish with the bull-dog jaws, which appearsto be, and in reality is, the personification ofpiscine impudence. The eel-pout, also known as the muttonfish,possesses several important points of ugliness,as the figure shows. But it is a useful fish andperhaps for that reason its appearance shouldbe excused. It reaches a length of about threefeet and has considerable importance as a foodfish. Another local fish that can easily qualify forthis article is the orange file-fish. This species, which isgreatly lacking in the matterof color, form and move-ment, was

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