140 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



(the longest) ray in the second dorsal, and ends a little | middle of the eye, is especially remarkable. As a rule, 



farther l):\ck than this tin; its height (the length of the 

 longest ray — the fourth or tifth) is ;d)Out equal to 

 that of the second dorsal. Tlu' hind margin of the 

 caudal fin is truncate or slightly rounded. Its length 

 is somewhat greater than that of the pectoral tins. The 

 ventral tins, the creeping organs of the hsli, are set 

 far forwai-d on the lower side of the head, just behind 

 the perpendicular from the hind mai-gin of the eye. 

 They are oldiquely I'ounded, but almost ti'uncate in 

 form. Their lengtli is about equal to, or at least * 5 

 of that of the longest rays in the ])ectoral tins. 



Fig. 36. Embryos and young oi Lophius piscatorius. Magnified. 

 a: three eggs, enveloped in tlie gelatinous membrane, and each con- 

 laining an embryo; b: one of these embryos with external (pendent) 

 yolk sac, taUen out of the egg; c: a young specimen already hatclied, 

 with the yolk-sac almost entirely absorbed, and with a clavate stalk 

 at the bottom of the sac, which is the rudiment of a ventral fin; 

 d: another young specimen, with the yolk-sac completely absorbed, 

 and witli tlio stalk more developed. After Alex. Aoassiz. 



The naked and loose, slii)pery skin is chiefly dis- 

 tinguished 1)V its numerous fringed appendages, which 

 are wanting, however, on the lower side of the l)odv, 

 their ai-rangement tiius bearing out the assumption that 

 their ol)ject is to give the fish when nt rest at the bottom 

 and wiieu seen from above, a certain resendjlance to 

 the vegetation growing there. These fringes, which 

 assume the form of iobate leaves of seaweed, var^■ in 

 size, and ai-e most highly developed at the edges of 

 the body, hul ni-c also scattered over the whole of its 

 ujjper side and over the upjier side of the ])ec1oral hns. 

 The fringe on each side of the foi-chead, above the 



too, a row of small fringes coasts the lateral line and 

 its branches on each side. 



The course of the lateral line may easily be dis- 

 tinguished by the white spots, or small white trans- 

 verse streaks on its pores. The lateral line proper 

 starts from the temporal region, about half-way between 

 the pectortd fins and the first dorsal, but a little be- 

 hind this point curves some way downwards (outwards 



Fig. 37. Young of Lopliiu.'i pi.-catoritis. a: a specimen somowliat 

 older than the oldest one in the preceding figure, but still with only one 

 ra}- in the dorsal, as well as in the ventral fin; I/: the same specimen 

 seen from above, with the pectoral and ventral tins figured only on one 

 side; c: a somewhat older specimen, with the rudiment of a new ray 

 in the ventral fins, on the inner side of tlie first ra\'; it: rays of the 

 dorsal fin in a somewlial older specimen; e: the same rays in a still 

 older specimen: /; an older specimen, with the rudiment of a new 

 ray in the dorsal fin, behind the first two; //: the rays of the ventral 

 fin in a specimen somewhat older than c, and of about the same age 

 as that from which fig. e is taken. .-Vfter Alex. Ag.\ssiz. 



on the flattened bodv), nearei- and nearer to the lateral 

 edge, which it afterwards follows all the way to the 

 middle of the base of the caudal tin. From the temples 

 the lateral line sends out in a forward direction an 

 occipital and a parieto-frontal branch, the latter of 

 which, however, soon divides and sends out a supra- 

 orbital branch on the snout, while its other division, 

 the su]iorl)it;d l)i'ancli, ;q)i)arentlv disappears just below 

 the eyes. In a downward direction from the temples 

 runs an opercular branch, -whicli lower down (above 



