Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 11.djvu/551

Rh which is five or six feet long, a most dangerous antagonist when the fisherman comes in direct conflict with it.

The hand-fishes of the tropics are very small, but their grotesque appearance and hand-shaped fins, suited for creeping, make them very

{{c|{{fs85|{{sc|Fig. 20.—Sea-Wolf}} {Anarrhichas lupus).}}}}

proper subjects of notice in this connection. One very small species is found on our Atlantic coast.

Nor ought the lump-fish (Fig. 21) to be omitted in this enumeration; for, although it is not specially remarkable in its general aspect, it is very remarkable in at least one portion of its structure. It has

{{c|{{fs85|{{sc|Fig. 21.—Lump-fish}} {Cyclopterus lumpus, Linnæus).}}}}

its ventral fins united so as to form a cup-shaped disk, and by means of this disk this fish is able to attach itself to any surface with great firmness. Pennant states that, upon putting one into a pailful of water, it adhered to the bottom so firmly that he lifted it by the fish's tail.



Nor ought we to omit to mention the sword-fish, although it exhibits nothing specially remarkable in its general form, excepting its sword-like prolongation of the jaw (Fig. 22). And on account of its