SEA SCORPION. 



185 



table), riaiTDw and of aliiiosi uiiifunii l)i-caflth: they are 

 set l)elo\v the iiectoral iiiis, and consist of one, short, 

 spinous ray and three, longer, soft rays, the middle 

 ray being generally the longest. The spinous i-ay, which 

 is closely united to the first soft ray and lii(hh'ii l)y the 

 skin, may easily escape notice, but is incntioiied even 

 in AuTEDi. The anal iin contains from II to 14 rays, 

 generally 12 or 13, which are similar to those of the 

 second dorsal fin. The caudal tin is rounded and 

 contains 11 or 12 I'ays, from 7 to 9 of the middle 

 ones bifid at tlie tip. Behind the vent is a small, 

 conical papilla, larger, as usual, in the male tlian in 

 the female. 



The difference between the sexes is often so great 

 tliat the fishermen of the middle portion of the island- 

 belt on the east coast of Sweden regard them as two dis- 

 tinct kinds of fishes. The male generally has a more slen- 

 der body and higher fins, to which we may add the spi- 

 nous scutes described above and the remarkable character 

 which consists in the arming of the inside of the rays 

 of the |)ectoral and ventral fins with a row of sharp 

 teeth, beginning about lialf-way along the rays and con- 

 tinued almost to the point. The fe))iale, on the other 

 hand, usually has a more l>ulky body and shorter fins, 

 especially the ventral (cf. the above table), while the 

 scales of the body, as we have remarked above, are 

 either wanting or, at least, are fewer and smaller: the 

 teeth on the pectoral and ventral rays are also wanting. 

 Tiie difference between the sexes, however, is not con- 

 fined to the form alone; there is a still more marked 

 distinction between them in the coloration, which in the 

 Sea Scorpion also varies considerably with age, the sea- 

 son of the year and the environments of the fish. The 

 coloration also changes suddenly when the fish is drawn 

 out of the water, and it is hard for anyone who has 

 not seen a new-caught Sea Scorpion during the spawning- 

 season, to realise the blending of brilliant colours which 

 adorns tliis fish, in other respects so ill-favoured. Plate 

 Vni, fig. 2 represents a male, fig. 3 a female, of this 

 species", lint in neither figure does their handsomest 

 dress, that of the spawning-season, appear, but that 

 which tliey generally wear in the Baltic. It is easy, 

 however, to gain from these figures an idea of the co- 

 louring in the spawning-seJison, when we remember that 



boundaries more sliarply defined. The red belly of the 

 mah', its most distinguishing point, ac(iuires a bright 

 red colour with a coppery lusti'e, forming a sharp con- 

 trast to the silvery, (lro])-shap(^(l spots. In the female 

 yellow, shading into gold and with more distinct varie- 

 gations, becomes the predominant colour. It must 

 not be supposed, however, that all the spots and bands 

 given in the figures are constant in number, form 

 and position, for they vary considerably in all three 

 respects. 



The digestive canal is made up of a short, but 

 wide, oesophagus, which gradualK widens into a muscu- 

 lar stomach, the sac being very distinct. From 8 to 

 10 appendages, of about the same length, are wreathed 

 round the pylorus and extend to the end of the sto- 

 mach. The intestine, which is very thin and fragile, 

 forms three curves before it opens into the vent. The 

 liver stricth' consists of one, large, thick lobe, which 

 is situated on the left side. It is yellowish bi'own 

 in colour, and the gall-bladder is small. The spleen 

 is small and chestnut-brown. There is no trace of 

 an air-bladder. The ovary is divided at the point 

 into two lobes with I'ound corners, and contains, for 

 some weeks previously to the depositing of the spawn, 

 red eggs of the size of a grain of mustard. There 

 are two testes, the right one being much the larger, 

 of a yellowish white colour, marbled with more or 

 less blackish blue. The urinary bladder is fairly large 

 and also divided at the bottom into two lobes of dif- 

 ferent size. 



The most common name of the Sea Scorpion among 

 the fishermen of the Sound and the Cattegat is Ulk, but 

 it has also many others among the islands of the Baltic, 

 e. g. SJcrahb, VUdkraks-simpa (Wild-crow Cottus), Honi- 

 skaUe (Horn-head), Skliniskrahha (Skin Cottus), Skalii/fa 

 etc. It lives only in salt water, and is found on both 

 sides of Scandinavia, from the extreme north of Norway 

 down to the Sound, and then along the island-belt of 

 the Baltic at least as far north as Uleaborg in Fin- 

 land, according to Malmgren. As we have remarked 

 above, however, it is in all respects most highly deve- 

 loped in the Arctic seas, which must, therefore, be re- 

 garded as its true home. It has long been known in 

 Greenland and Spitzbergen. Pallas assigned it to Si- 



the colours then become deeper and purer and their j beria; but his statement was doubted untU the Vega 



" Tljese figures and Ekstisum's description were publislied, as is known, long before GiLl. (1. c.) published his observations on the sexual 

 difference in the coloration. Cf. Dav, 1. c. But even in Farricius (Fn. Groeiil.. p. 156) we find: — "maris venter Havus. alboniaculatus." 



Scaiitiindvian Fishes. -* 



