CLASS PISCES.
91
Family PEDICULATA Cuvier
Genus Lupinus, Artedi.
Lophius piscatorius, Linn. Angler. Locally, Toad-fish,
Fishing Frog, or Sea Devil.
This ungainly fish has been frequently captured on the
Essex coast; but it is of no value, and it is more frequently
brought on shore as a curiosity than for food. Mr. W. J.
Beadel records (Field, June 20th, 1863, p. 598) that he took
one while trawling in about eight fathoms of water on the
edge of the Maplin Sands. Neither he himself nor fifty
fishermen who saw it were able to give the fish a name, so
it was sent to Mr. Frank Buckland, who soon identified it as
Lophius piscatorius, or, as he called it, " the Fishing Frog."
Dr. Bree minutely describes (Field, March 27th, 1869, p. 260)
a specimen caught by some Wyvenhoe fishermen in the Colne,
two or three years previous to that date, and which he pur-
chased from them.
The most salient peculiarity of this fish is the totally-dis-
proportionate size of the head and thorax, which, in the last-
named example, measured twelve inches, out of a total length
of thirty-two inches. This measurement was made from the
fish in a dried condition.
Family TRACHINIDAE, Risso.
Genus Trachinus, Cuvier.
Trachinus draco, Linn. Greater Weever.
A fish which is caught occasionally in eel-trawls on the
muddy shores. Mr. E. A. Fitch records (Essex Nat., vol. iii.,
p. 188) the capture of one at Stansgate by "spruling." It is,
however, with us of no value except for bait.