82 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



Besides the information we may thus gain from the 

 table, ^ve also find in JJr. Jongipinnis certain relations 

 \\liicli ciinnut be explained in accordance with develop- 

 ment. These chiefly concern the height of the body, 

 which in Esmakk's specimen is considerably less than 

 in Br. Bail. The specimens of Johnson, however, 

 level this difference, though they contradict the direc- 

 tion of development which seems to be indicated by a 

 comparison between the two specimens of Br. Bail, 

 just as the exceptional relations mentioned above. 

 This want of accordance suggests a true distinction of 

 species or a difference in the course of development", 

 even though the differences expressed in the above 

 table ma}' l)e eliminated by a richer supply of mate- 



I'ials for examination. The scales correspond in form, 

 as we have mentioned, to those of the preceding spe- 

 cies, but their number is considerably less, there being 

 only from 41 to 45 in the lateral line according to the 

 statements to which I have access. In the colouring 

 there seems to be no real difference from the preceding 

 species. 



Rasch's Sea-Bream has been met with in the North 

 on only two occasions, once when it -was caught in 

 Varge Fjord off Alten in Norwegian Finmark, and a 

 second time when it was cast ashore on the Westman 

 Islands, Iceland. The rarity of this fish naturally pre- 

 cludes all possibility of its possessing any special value 

 for the fisherman. 



fam. carangidj:. 



Form of the hodi) dioigated or high, perciform or strongly compressed. Eyes middle-sized or fairly large. Of 

 the external hones of the head the preoperculum and sometimes the frontal hones dentated at the margin or furnished 

 with sjnnes during youth, hut in adult specimens smooth. Scales small or middle-sized — sometimes absent — and 

 with smooth margin, sometimes, though only in the lateral line, resemhling high, spinous plates. Spinous-rayed part 

 of the dorsal and anal fins (or the anterior dorsal and anal fins, where each of these fins is double) shorter than 

 the soft-rayed part, hut in youth at least, well developed; at least two spinous rays hefore or at the heginning 

 of the anal fin. Simpde, pointed teeth in sparse rows or a card on the jatvs and palate, during youth at least. 

 The superior longitudinal ridges of the skull highly developed, the high supraorhital crest anteriorly prolonged on 

 the surface of the frontal hones as tvell. Ventral fins thoracic, and though sometimes reduced hy age in size as 

 tvell as structure, generally composed of 1 spinous ray and 5 soft. Branchiostegal rays usually 7''. Branched 

 rays in the caudal fin 15 at least. Total numher of vertehrce generally 24 or 25, 10 of which are abdominal. 



From the Mackerel family as adopted by Cuvier 

 Gunthek' removed the greater part into a separate 

 family, Carangidce, the famil}' (jf the Horse-Mackerels, 

 wliich he characterized l)y the number of the vertebrae, 

 stating that in these fishes it is lower than in the true 

 Mackerels and their nearest relatives''. Gill" has 

 pointed out a safer chai'acter, drawn from the structure 

 of the skull and most distinctly expressed, as far as 

 we can see, by the different develojjment of the longi- 

 tudinal ridges on the occiput, the forehead and the 



temples. In the Carangidce these ridges are compara- 

 tively high, especially the middle, supraoccipital ridge, 

 which extends forward over the coalescent frontal bones, 

 and reminds us of the preceding family. The other two 

 ridges belong to the temporal region, whence they ex- 

 tend more or less forward on each side of the skull, 

 the one starting from the mastoid (epiotic) bone and 

 sometimes, as in Trachynotus, continued along the side 

 of the fi'ontal bones as far as the rostral region, where 

 it meets the ridge of the opposite side, or, as in Ca- 



" So far as we cau rely oti the results attained hy ;i study of the trifling materials which this species has hitherto atiiorded us. 



* Gill, however, states that they vary between 6 and 10. 



■= Cat. Brit. Mus., FM., vol. II, pp. .S54 and 417. 



■' GCnther points out (1. c, p. 417) that the genera Chonnemtis and Teinnodon (Poiiiatomus) form exceptions: "but a comparison 

 with Lichia shows that tlieir natural position is by the side of this genus." That Nauerates, which GUnther placed among the Scombridce 

 because of the number of its vertebrae, should really be referred to this family, has already been stated by Gill (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad 

 1862, p. 431). That the number of the vertebrae may be of less systematic importance than GOnther here, as in other questions, e. g. in 

 the SalinonidcK, ascribed to it, is also shown by Heincke's observations of the variations in this respect in the common Herring. 



' Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. V (1882), pp. 487 etc. 



