PELECITS CULTRATUS. 



243 



Pelecus cultratus (Linnaeus). 



D. 9—10, A.2S— 3], y. 9, P. 16, C. 19. 

 Scales: lat. line 92 — 108, transverse 14 — 6. 



This species (Fig. 138), known in Sweden as the Skarhraxcn, in Germany 

 as the Sicliel or Ziege, and in Austria as the SicJiling, is so unlike other fishes of 

 the Carp family that some of the older writers, like Klein, inchided it with the 

 Pikes, while Wiilf placed it with the Herrings ; and it certainly approximates 

 the Carps towards the Herring groiip. The dorsal profile is almost horizontal 

 from the forehead to the dorsal fin, while the abdominal outline is convex, like 

 a bent bow. The greatest height is midway between the pectoral and ventral 



Fig. 



PELECfS CULTRATrS (liNNJEUs). 



fins, and the fish is about four and a half times as long as high. The greatest 

 thickness at the operculum does not exceed one-third of the height. The head 

 is one-fifth of the length. The eye is large, and approximates towards the 

 corners of the mouth. Owing to the direction of the mouth, the lower jaw lies 

 in front of the upper. There is a median ])rotuberance in the lower jaw 

 which fits in to a corresponding depression in the pre-maxillary bone. The lips 

 are fleshy only at the corners of the mouth. The double nares are near the 

 eye. The scales on the head commence just over the eyes, corresponding with 

 the extension of the dorsal muscles, which cover the hinder part of the skull. 

 The dorsal fin is on the hinder third of the body; it is rather truncated behind, 

 somewhat small, and only one-third higher than long. The anal fin is only 

 one-third as high as long ; but its length exceeds that of the head. The 

 ventral fin commences behind the middle of the body, and nearly reaches 

 to the vent. The prolonged point of the sabre-shaped pectoral fin, which is 

 more than one-quarter of the length of the fish, nearly reaches to the ventral 

 fin. The lower lobe of the deeply forked caudal fin is the longer of the two, 

 and nearly as long as the base of the anal. 



The lateral lino is at first nearly horizontal, then curves suddenly down- 



