Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Devil Fish

DEVIL FISH, or SEA DEVIL (Lophius piscatorius), an Acanthopterygian fish belonging to the family Pediculati, so named from its hideous aspect, produced mainly by the enormous size of its head in proportion to the rest of its body. The latter tapers off rapidly towards the tail, and gives the creature the appearance of a gigantic tadpole a resemblance to which it owes the name of frog-fish, applied to it from the earliest times. The cleft of the mouth is also exceedingly wide, measuring 14 inches in a specimen 4| feet-long ; and when the mouth is open the lower jaw protrudes beyond the upper, while both jaws are armed with several rows of formidable teeth. The pectoral fins are broad, and are rendered conspicuous by the prolonga tion of the carpal bones to which they are attached ; the ventral fins are palmate, and are placed far forward on the body. The sea devil is a sluggish fish, and, being at the same time exceedingly voracious, is said to have recourse to stratagem in order to satisfy its inordinate appetite. Three anterior dorsal spines, isolated from the others, and attached to the head in front of the eyes, are so modified as to form long filiform appendages, two of these being articulated to the skull by means of a bony ring, and thus capable of being moved in all directions by appropriate muscles, while the end of the front tentacle is broad and flattened, and of a shining, silvery aspect. Concealing itself in the mud of the sea-bottom, it waves these tentacles aloft, and the silvery extremity of the front filament acts as a bait in tempting the smaller fishes to approach near enough to be seized by the capacious jaws beneath. On this account the creature has received the name of angler, or fishing frog. The lobes, which form a fringe around the anterior part of the body, probably perform, although in a minor degree, the same function as the angling apparatus on the head. Although its prey is usually taken at the bottom, it has been known to ascend and float upon the surface of the water in search of food, and thus sometimes to capture sea fowl. Not unfrequently, also, it lays hold on cod or other fish as these are being drawn up hooked to the fisherman s line, and when caught with other fishes in the net it busies itself in devouring as many as possible of its fellow-prisoners. As a food fish the sea devil is value less, but as the process of its digestion proceeds but slowly, the fishermen often capture it for the fish contained in its stomach. Couch tells of one which, when opened, contained nearly three-fourths of a hundred of herrings, all of them fit for the market. It attains a length of 5 feet, ordinary specimens measuring about 3J feet. It is an inhabitant of the . seas of the temperate regions of Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa.