WUASSES. 



Gexnus LABRUS. 



Dom,} Hu of a ,u,,form depth or deeper hehiud than in front. Cheeks ,unl .ill-rovers srahj. Jaivteeth 



free {not united). 



THE SCALE-RAYED WRASSE (sw. dhunsnultkan). 

 LABRUS (ACANTHOLABRUS) PALLONI. 



Top of the head seal,, as n-ell as the InterorMtal ..pace. Dorsal and anal fns sndy at the Ime More than 40 



Jde^ln the lateral line. Cheeks .itk 5^ roas of seales under the eyes. Several rons of teeth en he upper and 



lower jan-s, within the outer row. In the dorsal Jin at least :>(> spinous rai/s. m thr anal :, . 



Fi>. 1. 



Scale-rayed Wrasse (Lalmts Palloni) from Kragero (Norway). 



of the natural size. 



R. br. 5; D. ^'/s^! -'i- Vs^ ^- "-a! V. '/,,; O. ..+ 13+.S 

 L. lat. 40—42''. 



Syn. Lntjanus Palloni, Risso, IcM. de Nice, p. 263; Cuv., Val. 



(Acanttwlabrus), Hist. Nat. Foiss., XIII, p. 243, fig. 375; 



SsiiTT, Novel. Familjebok, I, 281; Lilueborg, Sv., Norg. 



Fiskar, I, p. 447. 



Crenilabrns e.mletiis, Eisso, Hist. nut. pr. prod. Eur. mer., Ill, 



p. 329. 

 Labrus luscus, Couch, Loud. Mag. Nat. Hist., V, pp. 18 and 



742 (fig. 121). 

 Acantholabrus Uouchii, Cuv., Val., Hist. Nat. Foiss., XIII, p. 



248; Obeko, Ofvers. Vet.-Akad. Fork. 1870, No. 4, p. 391. 

 Acantlwlabrus imbricatus, Lowe, Proc. Zonl. Soc. 1839, p. 86 



and 84. 

 If an}^ of the Scandinavian wrasses deserve to be 

 distin'^uished from the others as a separate genus or 



subgenus, this species, iirst and foremost, claims that 

 distinction. It is the only one that has scales exten- 

 ding over the top of the head, though there they are 

 small, over the neck and the inter-orbital space; the 

 only one that has an angular space, covered with rows 

 of scales, on the membrane between each pair of rays 

 in the dorsal and anal tins'; and lastly the only one 

 that has 13 branched rays in the caudal tin. We can- 

 not however assign so great an importance to these 

 distinguishing points, Avhen we see that similar varia- 

 tions occur in other genera of this same family. 

 The forehead is scaly in some species of the tropical 

 genus Cossuphus (a kind of Rainbow Wrasse) of the 



<- Sometimes 4, according to Moreau. ^^^^^ p^^. ^.^^^ ^. g, ^,,-, „,^j /,,,., p. 266. 



. Sometimes 4 and son.etimes 6; cf. ^^^^r^f vl I O and g'.kth'J (6'a.. Brit. M.S., Fi.b., IV, p. 91 and 92). Our speci- 

 . 2«; or ^>;«, according to Valenciennes (Cuv., Val., 1. c. . ^ ^^ ^^^ left side there is a superfluous 



men from Hitter5 is abnormal in one respect, the ^^^ ^^^^ 2^.^ ^^^ o. this :ide has no basal scales, 

 ray, furnished with basal scales and with membrane jommg the nmth ra> , 



" In younger specimens 38, according to Lill.teborg, 1. c. 



< Hence Couch gave this species the name of Scale-rayed Wrasse. 



