16 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



JAGO'S GOLDSINNY (s\v. stensnultkan). 



LABRUS (CTENOLABRUS) RUPESTRIS. 



Plate 1, fig. 2. 



Top of the head naked. Number of scales in the lateral line less than 40." Above the lateral line not more 



than 4 roics of scales. Tnteropercidum upicards scaly for the greater part of its length. Cheeks covered tvith 



large scales; 4 or 5 suborbital rows. Number of spinous rags in the anal fin 3. The anal fin so short that the 



least depth of the tail is at least 85 per cent of the base of this fin.'' 



B. h: .5 ; D. -^ 

 L. lat. 36—38. 



2 + 7 1.6 1 + 7 12 5 



Syn. Scicena rupestris, Linnaeus, Mas. Ad. Fr., I, p. 65, tab. XXXI, 

 fig. 7; Id. (Labrus), Syst. Nat., ed. X. p. 286; Retzius, 

 {Perca), Fn. Stiec. Lin., p. 337; Cuvier (Cremlabnis), R. 

 Anim., ed. 2, p. 269; ifiLSSOJ^ (Labrus, Crentlabrus), Frodr. 

 Ichtk. Scand., p. 76; Fries et Wright, Scand. Fiskar, ed. 

 1, p. 45, tab. 9, fig. 1; Cuv., V.-^L. {Ctenolabrus), Hist. Nat. 

 Poiss., XIII, p. 223; Kroyer {Creniiabrus), Damn. Fiske, 

 I, p. 541; NiLSsoN {Labrus, Ctenolabrus), Skand. Fn., Fisk., 

 p. 274; GCnther {Ctenolabrus), Cat. Brit. Miis., Fish., IV, 

 p. 89; CoLLETT, Christ. Vid. Selsk. Forh. 1874, TilL-egsh., 

 p. 92; WiNTHEit, Prodr. IcJitli. Dan. mar., Naturh. Tidskr., 

 ser. Ill, vol. XII, pag. 26; D.\Y, Fish. G:t Brit., Irel., I, 

 p. 264, tab. LXXIV; Lilueborg {Labrus, Ctenolabrus), Sv., 

 Norg. Fiskar, I, pag. 442. 

 Labrus siiillus, Linn.eus, Syst. Nat., ed. X, p. 285 (ex It. 

 W'got. p. 179 — Bargsnultia) ; Malm {Ctenolabrus), Gbgs, 

 Boh. Fn., p. 478. 



Obs. In liis .Journej- through West-Gothland Linn.eus described 

 this species for the first time, though under the incorrect provincial 

 name Bcirgsnultra, the Bergsnultra of Bohuslan being really the species 

 we have above termed Berggylta. This species on the contrary is 

 clearly distinguished from the others by the fishermen of the district 

 under a special name (vid. Malm, 1. c.) which is too obscene to be 

 quoted, much less retained here. In the tenth edition of his Systema 

 Natures Linn^sus gave this same species the name Labrus suillus; 

 but owing to a misprint in the 'Journey through West-Gothland' the 

 mistake has arisen that in the description we have ^spinis dorsalibus 

 9» instead of 19. This circumstance has made it more difficult to 

 recognize Labrus suillus. and has misled Linn-EUS himself. In Mus. 

 Ad. Frid. he again described this species under the name Sciaena 

 rupestris, and in the tenth edition of 'Syst. Nat. he gives both as 

 distinct species of the genus Labrus, witliout being able to assign 

 any habitat to the species he describes under the latter name. Again, 

 as StrOm in his 'Description of Sondmiire' (I, p. 292) referred to 

 LiNNMcns's Labrus rupestris, this fish too might have been given as a 

 Scandinavian species in the twelfth edition of Syst. Nat. As suillus 

 is a later name for the species than rupestris, it is more strictly 

 correct to use the latter. In Zoolog. Danica (Tab. 107, Tom. 

 3, p. 44) Abildgaard erroneously included this species under the 

 geuuB Perca. This is the reason why Retzids in Fn. Suec. 

 quotes the species Labrus suillus from Linn.bus and Perca ru- 



pestris from Abildgaard, though he suspected that they were identic- 

 ally the same. 



The Goldsinn)' is one of the smallest of the Scandi- 

 navian Avrasses. The largest specimens we have seen 

 measured 170 mm., and the average length is about 

 120 mm. The form of the body most resembles that 

 of the Scale-rayed or the Ballan Wrasse. The short- 

 ness of the anal fin reminds us especially of the latter. 

 The length of the head is about V4 of the total length 

 and is about the same as the greatest depth of the 

 body, e.xcept of course in the case of females full of 

 roe. The lips are shorter than in the Ballan \A'rasse 

 and not so broad; the upper lip is the thicker and pre- 

 sents a truncate appearance, in consequence of which 

 the lo\ver part of the upper ja^v-bone is clearly visible 

 and the corners of the mouth are less distinct. The 

 teeth in both jaws are set in a .somewhat narroAv outer 

 row and one or more less regular inner rows, some- 

 times roughly resembling the arrangement given in the 

 figure of the Scale-rayed Wrasse. The teeth in the 

 outer row large and subulate ^vith the points bent in- 

 wards, the front ones largest; the inner teeth smaller 

 but projecting distinctly above the gum. The eyes of 

 middling size, their longitudinal diameter close upon ^ ^ 

 of the length of the head, and in younger specimens 

 equal to the breadth of the forehead, in older ones ^,3 of 

 that breadth. The}- are so situated that the line from the 

 snout to the middle point of the caudal fin touches the 

 lower edge of the pupil. The superior part of the 

 interoperculum is almost entirely covered with scales. 

 The hind margin of the preoperculum is finely serrated. 

 During life however these serrations are not very distinct, 

 as long as the bone retains its covering of skin; but if 

 this be removed, or if the fisli be immersed in alcohol 

 or dried for some time, they become distinctlj' visible. 



" Forty at most, according to Gil.NTiiER. 



* The least depth of the body in proportion to the base of the 

 of the tail was on an average 93.3 % of the base of the anal fin; the 



' Occasionally only r— g' as in the type-specimen of Linn.t:us's description of the species in Mus. Ad. Frid. 



anal fin increases with age. In 6 measured specimens the least depth 

 minimum was 85.7 %, the maximum 100 'i. 



