New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-06-04
Fh which Gobbles Wild Fowl Like FGe nvade Bmegat Bay
Natures Anglers They Creep Under Victims, open Huge
Mouths and Gulp Them Down-lhen They Lie In Sun
with Heads on Shore and Are Often Stranded

, only one actually got secure RESTING
place for his head One of the group which
became dislodged was evidently still hun.
cry. AS the boat approached him he
bristled up like a dog. his spines, or rays.
showing all over him, and came straight
for the boat. Big as his mouth was. he
was unable to swallow the skiff, and he
desisted with bad grace.
When at last I cut open a big frogfsh.
with seven ducks and perhaps bushel Of
fish inside, Watts PENIS story. after all,
seemed tame. Here, 1t seemed TO me- was
work for the State Fish and Game Com.
mission, all of the game wardens and az.
sistants. Here. out Of season. were mon
STEERS destroying moro wild fowl than all
the gunners kill in a season. What's the
use OF game laws In the presence of such
eourmands as these unbridled and unre.
| strained?
At night these monsters go hunting.
Travelling along on the bottom unseen and
| unsuspected, with upward, slanting eyes.
| thew locate the flock OF ducks sleeping or
the school of fish above them The huge.
cavernous laws open wide, the monster
silently rises and his prey disappears.
Geese. looms, guls and the largest as well
as the smallest birds, Holsters. crabs or any
living thing that will go in those jaws have
m show for life. Although 1t is true that
the frogfsh gorges at night ana olses's py
dow am convinced that he has the same
defective eyesight in daylight that Owls
have.
On returning to New York / visited the
American Museum of Natural history 70
dio I'm what science knows about the ang-
Ter fish. DR.. Louis Hussakof. associate
curator and John T. Nichols, assistant
curator of fishes. kindly showed me-
They have wide distribution on
Oh. coasts Of Europe and North Amer
Tea. The first dorsal ray inserted on inc
.nout 10 very long. movable in every direc-
| .ior and terminates in a dermal flap. which
o. .unnosod 70 be used by the frogfsh as,
q halt attracting other fishes, which arS
soon engulfed in the enormous cape II ~
| q fish of singular ugliness, It's name pisca'
| torius. pertaining TO an angler, IN ILLUSION
1 10 the baited dorsal spines whlcn o'erhahs
| the cavernous month
| The museum has only one small specimen
I OF the frogfish. beautifully mounted. IL
| also has several lantern slides made from
two specimens said to have been captured
II
| ar the vharves i'm this city. considerable
literature on angler fish exists at the mI-
scum. chiefly compiled at the United states
National Museum by DR. Theodore Gill;
great authority on fishes. DR.. Gill MADE
annie study of the anatomy of this hsh
| from specimens in hand, but the life MS
tory of its habits, such as are known, no
seems to have compiled from a long line
of observers from Cuvier down, which in
! cIuded the elder Agassiz. the late Spencer
+ Baird the late G.. Brown Goode. etc.
| 7, soems remarkable luck TO me that was
Johnny on the spot to greet big school
of frogfsh. and that IN three GAYS ~.
perhaps more observations on theh anu
/ had more intimate associations with them
than the entire long line or INDUSTRIOUS
! ,obtbvoIoqists w II. BALLOC.