48 



SCANDINAVIAN' FISHES. 



R. In: 1" D. -^ — ; A. |; P. 2 + 15 + 1''; V- -; C- .r+15 

 1 + 11 9 



+ .r''; L. lat. circ. 90; Sqti. tat. circ. 120. 



iSy7i. Amphiprion americanus, Block, Syst. Ichth., edit. Schneider, 



p. 205, tab. 47 {A. australe). 

 Epinephelus oxygeneios, Id., ibid. p. 301; Jokdan el Gilbert 



(Polypriori), Sy7i. Fish. IV. Amer., Bnll. U. S. Nat. Mus. 



N:r 16, p. 532. 

 Polyprion cernumi, Val., Mem. Mus. d'Hist. Nat., vol. XI, 



p. 265, tab. 17; v. Di)BEN et Koeen, Vet.-Akad. Handl. 1844, 



p. 29; NiLSs. i>kand. Fn., Fisk., p. 33; Gthe, Brit. Mus. 



Cat., Fish., I, p. 169; Day, Fish. G:t Brit., Irel, I, p. 17, 



tab. VI; LiLLJ., Sv., Xonj. Fn., Fisk., I, p. 71; Moreau, 



Hist. Nat. Poiss. Fr., vol. II. p. 349. 



The Stone-bas.s attains a length of over 6 feet. 

 '•The form of the body .some^vhat resembles that of the 

 Tench," says Nilsson; and the Stone-bass really does 

 remind one of that fish, but perhaps not so much by 

 its shape as by the large number and small size of its 

 scales, as well as l)v its colouring, at least as it ap- 

 peal's when preserved in spirits in the museums. The 

 uKJst remarkable point, lK)^\ever, in the appearance of 

 the Stone-bass is the roughness of its head. This is 

 caused not only by the bony ridge on the gill-cover, 

 ■which is the most important character of the genus 

 Pohiprion, but also by a number of similar structures 

 on the occiput and forehead. On the neck there is a 

 longitudinal, bony ridge, which in young specimens is 

 serrated ('like a segment of a circular saw': Moreau), 

 in older ones more or less smooth. In youth the epi- 

 otic bones (ossa mastoidea) liave also a similar appear- 

 ance, and tlie pterotic l)ones (ossa squamosa) form a 

 straight, horizontal, bonj' ridge on each side, thus form- 

 ing the up])er l)oundary of the cheeks behind the eyes. 

 On each side of the supraorbital region is a triangular 

 or semicircular patch of radiating lines of bone, which 

 are spinous and converge to a centre, Avhich touches 

 that of another i-adiating system of flatter ])ony ridges, 

 which form a fan-shaped figure and run towards the 

 longitudinal ridge on the occiput which we have just 

 mentioned. The strange appearance of the lisli is fur- 

 ther enhanced in a high degree bj- the extent of its 

 scaly armour, which is continued over the insertions of 

 the pectoral and caudal fins, and also ovei- the bases 



of the anal fin and of the soft-rayed part of the dorsal. 

 In the dorsal fin we see, as in the case of Acerina, tliat 

 the last spinous ray is longer than the one next before 

 it; but in the Stone-bass the spinous-rayed part is lower 

 than the soft-rayed. The hind margin of the caudal 

 fin is rounded, Init in ijoth the specimens which I have 

 been enabled to examine by the liberality of the Copen- 

 hagen Museum, the rays of this fin are broken oft' short. 

 The colour of these specimens, which are preserved in 

 spirits, is reddish brown, fiame-coloured on the sides 

 and almost white on the belly, v. Duben and Koren 

 describe a freshly-caught specimen as being bluish gray 

 on the back, Avhile on the sides the colouring shades 

 oft' into yellowish gray ^\•ith a silver lustre, and on the 

 belly becomes still lighter. All the ftns were blue- 

 black, with the exception of the ventrals, the rays of 

 Avlneh Avere l)luish white and the membrane blue-black. 

 According to their description, tlie iris is silver and 

 the pupil l)liie-l)lack. 



The Stone-bass, to which Lilljeborg has given a 

 S^vedish name formed on the analogy of the English 

 'Wreck-fish', a name due to the fact that it is often 

 met with near drifting Avreckage and timber, has been 

 observed in the most distant parts of the ocean, both 

 in the Atlantic and the Pacific Hemispheres. This 

 circumstance seems to confirm Sv. Loven's tlieory of 

 the uniformity (jf the deep-sea fauna, unless Pohjprion 

 Kiierii, described by Steindachner, be a .species pecu- 

 liar to the Pacific and Indian Oceans and there repre- 

 sent the genus. In the depths of the Mediterranean it 

 is common, and in Southern Europe it is highly esteemed 

 on account of the delicacy and fine flavour of its flesh. 

 Off the coast of Scandinavia it has been met with, in 

 the month of July, 1843, when a specimen oOU mm. 

 long was taken on a night-line at Solsvig, about 13 

 miles from Bergen. Though a deep-sea fish, the Stone- 

 bass sometimes comes to tlie surface, in pursuit of small 

 fr^" or perhaps to spawn, and it is under these circum- 

 stances that it is most often found near floating objects 

 covered with barnacles (Lepades), wliicli do not, how- 

 ever, seem to form its food. 



" A specimen about 210 mm. long bas 7 brancliiostegal rays ou tbe rii,'lit side and 8 on the left. 



Sometimes D. 



10 



11 



1+12 1 + 10' 

 "■ Or 2+14+1 or 2 + 15. 

 '' .V + 14 + .7' according to v. DChen an<l Koren, 1. e. 



