54 ACANTHOPTERYGII. 



Richardson in the third edition of Yarrell, considered his G. hexacornis a variety 

 of this species. Malmgren has observed that certain marine fishes as Gottus 

 quadricornis, Liparis barbatus and a variety of the common herring, are fonnd in 

 the northern portion of the Baltic where that sea is least saline, whereas they 

 appear to be entirely absent from its southern extremity where their presence 

 might be anticipated had they obtained access from the North Sea. They are 

 leaner and smaller in the Baltic than in the Arctic Ocean, and it is supposed that 

 they are the remnants of the fauna of the Glacial Ocean. During the later 

 portion of the glacial period most of Finland and the middle of Sweden were 

 submerged, and the Baltic a gulf of the Glacial Ocean, being then closed in at 

 the south. As the Scandinavian continent has become elevated, the Baltic has 

 been cut off by land from the Arctic Ocean, whereas to the south it has obtained 

 access into the North Sea, leaving it containing representatives of the former 

 marine glacial fauna, not the products of immigration through the Sound. 

 Thus inherited instinct induces these fish to seek a passage in the north, while, 

 due to the alteration in the physical condition of the water in the Baltic, they are 

 becoming a smaller and more miserable race than their relatives now living in the 

 Arctic Ocean. 



Habits. Said to be active, a rapid swimmer, and eager after prey, to obtain 

 which it conceals itself among stones or under sea- weed, from whence it darts on 

 its victims. Lacepede states that it enters rivers. 



Edward observes that he " never found this species but in the stomachs of 

 fish ; which led him to the conclusion that they generally inhabit deep water, or 

 at least that they do not come so near the surface as the preceding species," Gottus 

 bubalis. 



Means of capture. Yarrell observes that it is taken on the north-east coast by 

 fishermen in winter when working nets with small meshes for sprats. 



Breeding. In winter. The ova are white. 



Habitat. This fish has been captured in latitude 82 30'^ north or within the 

 limits of the Arctic Ocean, it is found in the Northern Ocean as far as Greenland, 

 the west coast of Norway (absent, however, according to Collett), also in the 

 northern portion of the Baltic and in the North Sea, as far south as the British 

 Isles. Sir John Richardson found it very abundant at the mouth of the 

 Coppermine River in British North America. In Britain it is said to be 

 occasionally taken on the north-east coast. W. Thompson, February 7th, 1834, 

 obtained one alive at Weymouth, which he transmitted to the Zoological 

 Gardens. In Scotland, Edward observes its occurrence in Banffshire, but 

 only from the stomachs of other fishes. 



It has not been recorded from Ireland. 



The example figured is from one in the British Museum, probably the same 

 that has previously been employed by Yarrell and Couch. This fish attains to 

 12 or 13 inches in length. 



