150 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



of this question we must furtlier add that tlie figure of the smaller 

 form in the first edition of "Scandinavian Fishes" is printed under 

 the name given to the species hy FfiiKS, Hebastes regulus, while the 

 Royal Swedish Academj- of Science possesses a figure of the larger 

 form, signed by W. v. Wright and coloured under Fries's direction 

 in 1835, though not quite fiuished, which bears the name Seb'istes 

 norvegicus. Fkies had thus already distinguished between the two 

 forms. 



The Norway Haddock, in its Arctic liume at least, 

 attains a length of 1 metre or slightly over"; l)ut the 

 smaller form, which is the more common in tlie fjords 

 and the island-belt of tlie sonth of NorAvay and off 

 the coast of Bohuslan, attains, to the best of our know- 

 ledge, only a third of this length. The body is com- 

 pressed and, in comparison with that of the Perch, 

 somewhat high, especially in the smaller form, where 

 in the gravid females the greatest height of tlie l)ody 

 is about 33 % of the length, while in the males it is 

 about 31 ?4. In the larger form it varies l)etween 30 

 % and "28 %. The curves of the dorsal and ventral 

 profiles ai-e about equal: luit in the female the l)elly 

 is distended at the time of parturition, and the curve 

 of the bellv is then sharper than that of the back. 

 The greatest breadth (thickness) of the hodj behind the 

 head is equal to, or slightly greater or less than half the 

 height. The back is convex, the belly almost flat. The 

 head is fairly large, its length from the tip of the snout 

 varying bet\veen 30 % and 33 % of the length of the 

 body. The forehead is flat, in the smaller form some- 

 Avhat concave''; near the occiput, where two pai-allel, 

 osseous ridges occur, which slightlj' diverge posteriorly, 

 it is somewhat depressed. The mouth is large and 

 directed upwards, and admits of some protrusion of 

 the intermaxillaries. The length of the intermaxillary 

 bones is silmost equal to the distance from the tip of 

 the snout to the anterior margin of the pupil. The 

 upper corner of the In'oad extremity of the ujjper jaw- 

 bone extends to a point beneath the middle of the 

 pupil, when the mouth is closed. The length of this 

 bone varies between 82 % of the length of the lower 

 jaw, in small specimens, and 69 %, in large ones. The 

 prominent, lower ja^v has at the point of the chin a 

 protuberance which forms a hook turned do\vnwards 

 and, including the height of the teeth, in large speci- 

 mens at least, is equal in height to the diameter of the 



pupil, or somewhat greater than it. The length of the 

 lower jaw varies between 17 % and 18 % of the length 

 of the body. The intermaxillary teeth anteriorly form 

 broad bands, which posteriorly taper to a point, but 

 are broken and separated at the tip of the snout. The 

 bands of teeth in the loAver jaw converge anteriorly, 

 Avhere the jaw rises into two, rounded protuberances. 

 On the head of the vomer the band of teeth forms an 

 angle ^vith its point directed for^vard. The palatine 

 teeth are set in t^vo longitudinal bands, which are far 

 apart and diverge in a downward and backward di- 

 rection. The pharyngeals, six upper, which are closely 

 united, and t^vo lo^ver, one on each side, are also fur- 

 nished ^^'ith fine teeth. The toftgue is heart-shaped and 

 smooth, with a free, narroAV tip. Both nostrils on each 

 side of the snout are round, the posterior being larger 

 than the anterior, the margin of Avhich is raised and 

 posteriorly elongated into a dermal Hap. They are 

 situated nearer the eyes than the tip of the snout. 

 The distance between the two posterior nostrils varies 

 betAveen 70 % and 80 % of the least breadth of the 

 interorbita] space. On the side of the snout, just out- 

 side the anterior nostril, is a muciferous pore, which 

 is often open, and in other cases closed by a dermal flap. 

 At the middle ])oint of the distance betAveen the nostrils, 

 on each side of the snout, is a prominent spine. The 

 eyes are large, set high, and slightly turned up in an 

 oblique direction'. The longitudinal diameter of the 

 orbit is generally more than " g of the length of the 

 maxillaries; not until the specimen attains a length of 

 450 ram., do we iind this ratio as small as from 30 % 

 to 35 %. Above the orbit are two large spines in its 

 margin, the one behind the other, and behind the posterior 

 one, somewhat higher on the forehead, are two smaller 

 spines on each side, nearer each other: all these spines 

 point in a backward direction and are comparatively 

 larger in young specimens than in old. Still higlier 

 up the forehead, in a line with the anterior of the two 

 spines last mentioned, begin the lateral ridges of the 

 top of the head, often preceded by two smaller spines. 

 These ridges are smooth, longitudinal bars on the pa- 

 rietal bones, slightly diverging posteriorly and ending 

 in a spine at the outer hind corner of these bones. 

 The preoperculum is rounded, with 5 spines of fairly 



" Day states that it attains a length of 4 ft. 



' "Flatly concave" (Nilsson). 



<■ As is generally the case with Physoclysts when suddcidy drawn up from great depths, the eyes most often bulge out of their sockets, 



and the air-bladder, the external pressure being thus diminished, also forces the oesophagus and a portion of the stomach into the pharynx. 



