LUCIOPEECA VOLGENSIS. 



43 



Lucioperca volgensis (Pallas). 



This species (Fig-. 15) has the body less compressed, the head shorter 

 and higher, the mouth smaller than in the pi-evious species, and the angle 

 of the pre-operculum inclined more forward. It occurs in the extreme east 

 of the Austrian Empire, is characteristic of the south of Russia, is well 

 known in the Dniester and Volga ; it is also found in the rivers of Asiatic 

 Russia. It is of about the same size as Lucioperca saiulra, but differs from it 

 in the proportions of the body, as well as in the markings. The greatest 

 height of the head is about equal to its length, and its length, which reaches 

 back to the fleshy point of the operculum, is contained about four and a 



Fig. l.T. — LUCIOl'EKCA VOLGENSIS (PALLAS) . 



quarter times in the entire length of the fish. The breadth of the body 

 is nearly equal to half its height, so that in general shape it is higher than 

 L. scaidra, and has a rounder aspect. The eye is large, its diameter being 

 one-fifth of the length of the head, and it is more than its own diameter 

 behind the extremity of the snout, and separated from the other eye by 

 less than its own diameter. The profile of the head rises more quickly than 

 in the Sander, as it extends backward, so that the anterior part of the 

 back is arched in front of the first dorsal fin. The upper jaw terminates 

 backward under the middle of the eye. The pre-operculum is evenly notched, 

 and its upper branch is inclined forward, so that the angle of the bone 

 extends conspicuously backward. 



The first dorsal spine is a little shorter than the second, which is as long 

 as the third and fourth. The spines afterwards diminish in length, becoming 

 more inclined, and the last and shortest, which lies horizontally, has a 

 short membranous connection with the second dorsal fin. 



