100 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



through the Straits of Gil)raltiir cannot be denied. 

 Even in -winter they are caught in the Mediterranean, 

 thougli lit this season they withdraw to the deepest 

 \\-aters. Not before spring do they again approach the 

 shore; and they are then caught in hirge quantities in 

 seines, chief!}' in Fi-ance and Spain — and also in the 

 Atlantic, wliere this fishery is more desultory — in 

 viachar/iics off the coast of Ital}', chiefly in Sardinia 

 and Sicily, ;nid in matanzas in Tunis. The last two 

 engines, which closely resemble each other, consist of 

 a series of nets fixed at a depth of at least 18 fathoms, 

 on the same principle as the S^vedish traps for Perch 

 (njssjor, fig. 4, p. 33) or netted pens {pator) for Sal- 

 mon, o)' the ground-nets (bottenf/arn) used in the Sound. 

 This principle, which is employed, though with several 

 modifications, by all fishing nations, is founded on the 

 observation that fish, at least when collected in shoals, 

 keep the same course and const any obstacles that may 

 meet tliem in the same direction, provided they are 

 not suddenly frightened. One ;irin of the net is drawn 

 to^vards the shore and another out to sea in order to 

 guide the fish into the chambers, which correspond to 

 the netted pen or the divisions of the Perch-traps. 

 The last chamber, called the chamber of death, has a 

 net iit the l)ottoiii, whicli is raised, like the chamber 

 of the ground-uet, when the catch is to be taken. 

 The murderous slaughter which now ensues is in some 

 places ;i pulilic amusement", and several hundred fish 

 are often taken at a haul. In the island of St. Pierre 

 oft" the south coast of Sardinia, 15,850 Tunnies were 

 lakcii by this method in 1866: their total weight was 

 about 1,255 tons and they -were valued on the spot at 

 about £51,000. The fishing goes on even in autumn 

 u\) to the end of October, when the Tunnies wander 

 in the opposite direction and are therefore supposed to 

 be endeavouring to make tlieir way out into the At- 

 lantic. The flesh is liighly valued in the countries 

 bordering on the Mediterranean. The dift'erent parts 

 of the fish are of dift'erent a])])earance and flavour. The 

 slices from the belly (sorra) are considered most deli- 

 cate. One part of the flesh is preserved in oil {sca- 

 heccio), another salted, and the head, bones and oft'al 

 are boiled down into train-oil. The roe, too, is highly 

 esteemed. It is sometimes made into hoUarga, a kind 



of salted and pressed caviare. The liest hottarf/a, ho"\v- 

 ever, is obtained from the Grev Mullet. Good and 

 wholesome as the flesli of the Tunny is ^vhen fresh or 

 well preserved, it is no less harmful wlien tliis is not 

 the case, as it decomposes rapidly. 



In the Scandinavian fauna the Tunny can only be 

 regarded as an occasional visitor, though it often crowds 

 "in large shoals" (Coll.) into the Norwegian fjords as 

 far north as the Lofoden Islands. STRckM (1. c.) informs 

 us that in the last century it was often taken ])artly 

 in the herring-nets among the summer Herrings, and 

 partly ^\'ith the harpoon, the latter instrument being 

 used chiefly in Jorgen Fjord (a branch of Stor Fjord 

 in Sondm5r), and that its flesh, which was fat as 

 Ijacon, Avas regarded as a delicacy b)' the peasants. 

 No fry, ho-\\'e\'er, to prove that it propagates its species 

 in Norway, have ever been found, so far as we know*. 

 ()ft' the coast of Bohusliln the Tunny is seldom caught, 

 though, according to Cedekstrom, it is not rare on the 

 north coast during summer. Hollberg described in 

 1822 (1. c.) a specimen 172 cm. in length, which had 

 been caught eight years before in the River Gotha just 

 Avhere it passes the Old ToAvn (a part of Gothenburg). 

 Ekstroji presented to the Royal Museum a specimen 

 236 cm. in lengtli, which was found dead on the 

 23rd of August, 1844, in the island-belt of Tjorn (Bo- 

 husliin). Malm mentions a specimen taken oft" the rock 

 of Gaso, outside Gullmaren, in the autumn of 1851, 

 which was only a little smaller than another 248V2 

 cm. long, which was found by some fishermen "en- 

 tangled in seaweed" in the Skager Rack on the 15th 

 of October, 1867. In September, 1887, on an islet at 

 the mouth of the Dynekil not far from StrOmstad, "a 

 specimen of the Tunny was cast ashore which was 

 nearly 27 dm. in length; the length of the head from 

 the gills to the point of the lower jaw was 700 mm." 

 (C. A. Hansson). The Tunny has been met with on 

 numerous other occasions in the Cattegat, the Sound, 

 the Great Belt and even in the Baltic''. It has twice 

 been taken oft" Ystad, in 1709 and in October, 1878, 

 and once oft' Ostra Torp at the most southern point 

 of Sweden. In 1S69 a, Tunny was caught oft' Stral- 

 snnd, and the species has been met Avith several times 

 in the south-west corner of the Baltic and in the Sound. 



<• Cf. BiiEMM, Tliierhben, 2nd. ed., Ablli. Ill, Bd. .3, p. 07. 



'' Tliougli HoFMAXN relates in Tidskr. f. Naturv. Kbhvn., II, ji. 305, that a Tunny as large as a Jlaekerel, i. e. 3 ur 4 niontlis old, 



has been caiiglit oft' tlie nortli coast of Fiiiien, Kroyer, wlio ciuotcs tliis tiiid (1. c, p. 250), seems to doubt its accuracy. 



" See Krovkh, Nii.sson, Wi.ntiikr and MOinus and Heincke. 



