158 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



THE SMALL-EYED COTTUNCULUS (s\v. rADDiLKEN"). 



COTTUXCULUS MICEOl'S. 



Fig. 45. 



Skill roiKjh irifji scaitercd small spines set in c/roiijis or in small fransrerse roirs, or isolated. Lenr/th of tlie 

 head, in adult specimens, from 35 to 37' % and its dcjitJi at the oiiipnt from 23 to 2(> % of the lenf/th (f the 

 hodi/. Eijes small, their lonffitudinal diameter being in adult specimens about half the hreadtli of tJie interorbital 

 space: and closeh/ covered to the mari/in of the iris bi/ the rour/h shin. Tlie tubular, anterior nostril, with its 

 margin posteriorly elongated, is situated at a distance in front of the ei/e about v(jual to the diameter of the 

 pupil: the j^osterior is less raised, and set closer to the eye than to tlie anterior nostril, but also a little nearer 

 the middle line of the snout. Bays of the anal fn less than 11. Three rays in the ventral fins. The lateral line 

 of the body opens into a roir if about 15 scattered pores, of irhieh at least the anterior are set at the top of 

 verrucose protuberances. That part of the system of the lateral line ivhich belongs to tlie head, has large open 

 j)ores under the margin of the preoperculum and the loirer margin of the preorbital bone (on the dermal flap above 

 the ma.riUary bones). The rent is situated in adult specimens about half-iray between the insertion of the ventral 

 fins and the beginning of the anal. The anal region {in the male duriiKj tlie spawning-season) sirolh'u into a large, 

 conical jiajiiUa. Coloratimi grayisli-irhite, irifh large, black spots, irhich resemble transverse bands, and are here 

 and there interrupted by or mingled irith nnind sjiofs of the ground-colour. 



Fig. 45. (Jottiinciilus microps, r^, natural size. Taken on tlie east coast of Gieenlantl, 65° 30' N., at a depth of KiO fathoms. 



R. hr. G; D. — -; A. 10; P. 17—20; T'. 3; U. .r+6 + ,r; 



13—15 



L. lat. (por.) 10—18. 



tSyii. Cotluuculus microps, Colt... Viil. Selsk. Forh. Crist. 1874, 

 TillaigRh., p. 20, tab. 1, tig. 1—3; ibid. 1878, No. 14, p. 

 20; ibid. 1870, No. 1, p. 11; Id., Norslc. Nordli. Exped., 

 ZooL, Fiske, p. 18; Lill.i., <S'f., Nortj. Fisk., vol. I, p. 113; 

 — (?) Joed., Gilb., Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. IG, p. 688 — ; 

 COLI,. N. Mag. Natiirv., Bd. 2'.1 (1884), Heft. 1, p. 53. 



Ob.i. The large eyes ("equal to the snout") and the large 

 number of soft rays (!'.•) in tlie dorsal fin render it extremely doubt- 

 ful whether the specimen taken off Rhode Island and desciibed liy 

 Jordan and Gilbert (1. c), belongs to this species. 



" LiLLJEBORG, 1. C. 



'' About 10, according to Collett. In the specimen belonging 



' Proe. Roy. Soc. Edinb., vol. XI (1881—82), p. 679. 



The .Sinall-eved Cottiim'iilus seem.s to be a true 

 Arctie form, though, aecordiug to Gunther', it was 

 found by the English "Knight Errant" ]<]xpedition of 

 1880, in the eold bottom-water between Scotland and 

 the Faroe Islands, at a depth of 540 fathoms. It had 

 previously been found l)y Professor G. 0. Sars at a 

 depth of 200 fathoms, oft' Hasvig, near Hammerfest, 

 and Ijy the Norwegian Arctic Expedition between Nor- 

 way and Bear Island, and also west of the Norway 

 Islands (the north-west of Spitzbergen), on a clayey 

 bottom, at depths varying from about 200 to 450 

 fathoms. A fairly large number of specimens have 



to tlie Roval Museum, we find 18. 



