152 



SCANDIXAVIAX FISHES. 



(Rock-Perch). The smaller t'oriu, however, as we have 

 remarked alcove, is the more common there, as well as 

 (iff' the south of Norway, as far north as Trondhjem 

 l''ior(l. It is generally found at the comparatively small 

 depth of from 20 to 60 fathoms, but sometimes at as 

 great a deptli as 150 fathoms". South of Bohusliin the 

 smaller form lias never been met with, but the larger 

 form has ^vandered on several occasions as far as 

 the Sound''. An active fishery, M'hich has this larger 

 form as its object, is carried on along the ^vhole coast 

 of Norway, but especially in the north, where the Nor- 

 •\vay Haddock is found in deep water, though most 

 often at a depth of from 60 to lOO fathoms. It has 

 also been met with in the White Sea'', off Nova Zembla, 

 Spitzbergen, Iceland and Greenland, where the smaller 

 form apparenth' does not exist, and also off NeAvfound- 

 land and along the North American coast as far south 

 as Cape Cod. whence the Royal Museum has received 

 specimens which b^- certain characters range themselves 

 l)etween the two forms. The lai-ger form has also been 

 taken on a few occasions off the coasts of Scotland and 

 Ireland. In the North Sea the species scarcely seems 

 to l)e stationary. 



The Nor-ttay Haddock seems generally to keep to 

 a rocky bottom, where it lives on crustaceans, mollusks, 

 and small fishes. It is of gregarious habits, for where 

 the fisherman lias one bite, it is generally not long be- 

 fore anotlier foUows; and amono- the Lofoden Islands, 

 according to Collett, it is sometimes taken in hund- 

 reds in the nets set for Coalfish. Accordino; to Eii.- 

 sxiiO.M it is caught, though seldom, on the coast of 

 Bohusliin fi-om April to .July inclusive, and somewhat 

 oftener at certain spots from October to December. 

 The male is generall)- rarer than the female. The young- 

 ones leave the ovaries of the parent-lish during the 

 spring-months, from April to May, or sometimes early 

 in sunnner, when they are from 3 to 5 mm. in length. 

 From the fact of his having received on several oc- 

 casions during the monlh of May a paii' of Norway 

 Haddocks, male and female, that had been I'aught to- 

 gether, Kkstuom came to the conclusion that this fish 

 is perhai)s monogamous. At the end of ;\lay lie ob- 

 tained females witli the eggs so advanced in develop- 



ment that not oidy the t\\-o lilack sj>ots which mark 

 the eyes, l)ut also the whole embryo Avas visible within 

 them. At'cording to Kroyeu the fry are so developed 

 in duly that they are able to leave the mother. At 

 this period they ai-e tiny, lively creatures which make 

 their way u\) to the higher regions of the sea and swim 

 about near the surface. During the Norwegian Arctic 

 expeditions of 1877 and 1878, according to Collett, 

 young specimens from 9 to 19 mm. in length were 

 taken in the month of July, together with several pe- 

 lagic crustaceans and young mollusks, in a surface-net, 

 in the Ai'ctic Ocean off Bear Island and Spitzbergen. 

 Apparently, however, they soon i-eturn to the bottom 

 of the sea, for in 1878, in the months of July and 

 August, during the same expedition, specimens from 

 62 to 143 nnn. in length were taken in Tana Fjord 

 and the same part of the Arctic Ocean, at the bottom, 

 where the water was from 120 to 150 fathoms deep. 



In spite of its being viviparous, a circumstance 

 which in other fishes admits of the production of only 

 a comparatively small number <:»f IVa-, the Norway Had- 

 dock is still fairly prolific. Collett estimated the 

 number of the eggs in a female specimen of the larger 

 form, 550 mm. in length, to 1)e about 148,000, and in 

 one of the smaller form, 300 mm. in length, 18,000. 

 As Rydeh'', however, estimates the number of embryos 

 in each ovary to be only about 1,000, it seems highly 

 probable that only a small portion of the eggs come 

 to maturity at the same time. The latter writer also 

 believes he has found on the dorsal part of the inside of 

 the ovary an a1)undant covering of flat, fleshy and highly 

 vascular processes Avhich to some extent corresponds to 

 the maternal placenta of the higher vertebrates. 



The Norway Haddock (Sw. Kiou/sfisk = King-fish 

 or Rodfisk =-- Redfish), which in Norway is more gene- 

 rally called Ur, is a fish of exquisite flavour, a veritable 

 ocean delicacy. Its flesh is firm and white, and tastes 

 very like that of the common Perch. In tlie island- 

 belt of Ikihushln it is generally taken on the long-line. 

 It is too scarce to be of any great commercial value, 

 and is therefore most often eaten fresh liy the fisher- 

 men themselves. 



(Eksthom, Sjutt.) 



Loi.i.KTr, N. Mao-. Xatiirv.. 1. r. The lioyal Jluseiiiii lias also roceiveil from a tislieruiaii of Kariiigo, AIattsox by name, a male 

 spjjcimeii of tlie smaller form, wliicli was taken at a depth of "from 75 to 150 fathoms, N. W. of Bergen". 

 '■ NiLSSON (1. c.) gives several instances. 



■" Lieutenant II. S.\ndehei!G brought home a specimen fmm Archangel to the Royal Museum. 

 '' r.iill. U. S. Fish. Comm., vol. VI (l.SGG), p. 02. 



