The fishes of this genus, to which Commerson gave the name of
Antennarius, (on account of the filament which they possess on the
forehead,) are met with in the sea of warm climates, in the east as
well as in the west. They subsist chiefly on small crabs, to surprise
which they hide themselves among the sea-weed, or behind stones. Their
flesh is said not to be edible; it may, perhaps, have been rejected,
on account of their disgusting appearance, and is certainly too small
in quantity to allow of its being important as an article of food.
In swimming, they usually gulp down air, and, thus distending their
capacious stomachs, enlarge themselves into a rounded half-floating
mass, much in the same manner as the globe of balloon fishes. Their
nearest affinity is to the fishes known as anglers, with which
they agree in the form of their gill-openings and fins, and in
the possession of filaments on the head; but the monstrously
disproportioned head of the anglers, which is depressed from
above downwards, and the enormous opening of their mouth, readily
distinguish them from the Toad Fishes, whose head is of moderate size,
and, like their bodies, compressed laterally. They are either smooth
or variously hairy or bristly, and are always destitute of the regular
scales with which fishes are generally invested. They are furnished,
especially on the lips and the under parts, with numerous short, loose
processes of skin, which add considerably to their sense of touch.
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