•224 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



Genus LUMPENUS. 



BocIji eloix/dfed, (niteriorhj fercfr, in the caudal part stronfjli/ compressed Jatoidhi {r'lhhoii-sliaped), and corered tvifh 

 reni small scales. Cheeks, as a ride, and sometimes even the oceijntf, covered irifJi sc(des: the rest of the head 

 naked and irithoaf dermal fringes. Length of the head and snout moderate, or, in proportion to the depth of the 

 head, fairly great. Gape only sUghtli/ turned upu-ards, or even horizontcd. GUI-openings large, sloping distinctly 

 forwards, the branch iost eg al membranes being separate, and free to the very point of the isthmus. One continuous 

 dorsal fn, containing only spinous rays, along the whole of the back behind the head. Anal fin long, and with 

 one spinous rail at tJie beginning: the other rays articulated and (usually distinctly) branched. Ventral fins of 

 moderate lenqtli, or, in prainniion to the lengtJi of the body, fairly short, and with one spinous and tliree" soft rays. 

 Bails of the pectoral fins often all branched'' except the top one. Branched rays of the caudal fin feir {under 13?). 

 Lateral line indistinct, situated at the middle of tJic sides. Branchiostegal rays G or 7. PseudobrancJiice present, 

 but sometimes indistinct. Air-bladder iranfing. I'liloric appendages usually small, 2 or .-> in number. 



This genus Mas founded in 1835 by Reinhahdt, 

 wlicit ill his study of tlie Blennies of Greenland, he 

 had to define Blennius lumpenus of Fabkicius. The 

 genus is an arctic one, with a circumpolar range, but 

 with an extension in the Pacific down to California, and 

 in the Atlantic to Cape Cod in tlie ^\'est and Scandi- 

 navia and Scotland in the east. (3nly from 5 to 7 

 species can be recognised as defined with more or less 

 certaintY; but for these species Gill" established five 

 distinct genera, which by Collett'', however, were with 

 ivasoii reduced to three, with the rank of onlv sub- 

 genera: Leptoblennius, witli teetli in tlie jaws only; 

 Liniipenus, with teeth in the jaws and on the palatine 

 bones; and Leptoclinus, with teetli in the jaws, on the 

 jialatinc bones and on the vomer. This division had 

 already been proposed, though without any reference 

 to the naming of the subgenera, by IlEiNHARnT*' in his 

 study of the species belonging to Greenland; and for 

 the Scandinavian species Nilsson-'' had proposed an ana- 

 logous division of the genus, employing the name of 



subo'enus was without canine teeth. In Nilsson s writ- 

 ings Leptoclinus is called Ctenodon, a generic name 

 previously employed in zoolog)- and therefore here un- 

 tenable. Collett^, however, has remarked the Avorth- 

 lessuess of the character derived from the presence or 

 absence of ]jalatine teeth'': and even though the canine 

 teeth, as Fries' has also pointed out, are well-deve- 

 loped, and clearly distinct from the other jaw-teeth, in 

 one of the Scandinavian species, still this character is 

 oiih' relative, as in the other species the jaw-teeth also 

 vary in size. The changes of growth are also of great 

 importance here, as in other genera. Collett has re- 

 marked that the palatine teeth are developed later than 

 the jaw-teeth; and, to judge by individual variations, 

 it seems to be true that the palatine teeth often dis- 

 appear, in old specimens at least. Other, equally im- 

 portant changes of growth are remarked by JMalmguen 

 in his valuable account of the fishes of Spitzbergen-'. 

 He there shows, -with regard to the t\vo species Lum- 

 penus mediiis and L. Fabricii, established by Reinhardt, 



Lumpenus, though essentially in the meaning later ap- j ho\v the length of the head and of the pectoral and 

 plied to Leptoblennius, still witli the addition that this [ ventral fins, as well as the depth and thickness of the 



" Lumpenus amjiiillnrif: and A. nn/j/luf! are stated, however, to have foiu' soft rays in tlie ventral fins. 



'' Sometimes even tlie lowest are sini|ilc. 



'= Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philad. 1804, p. 209. 



'' N. Nordhavs-Expedition, Zool., Fiske, p. G.3. 



' Dske Vid. Sclsk. Math. Natnrv. Afh., Deel 7 (ISSS), p. 104. 



■^ iSliaiidinavisk- Fauna, Fiskariie, p. 100. 



Norske Nordhavs-E.xpHdition, Zool., Fiske, p. 64. 



'' It is easy to judge of the effects involved in this division of the genus, when one has to determine the species belonging to it. 

 The Vega E.\pedition brought home three large specimens of Lumpenus Fabricii from Najtschkaj, just north-west of Behring Strait, the largest 

 being .344 mm. in lengtli. They jiave 1). 00 — O.'i, ^1. '/^., and T'. '/;,; hut tw<i of tliem are entirely without palatine or vomerine teeth, 

 and should tlius, according to Gill, be referred to the genus Leptoblennius:, \v\\\\v. the lliinl s|iceimrn has teeth on the anterior part of the 

 palatine bones, and thus shows the correct determination of the others as well. 



' Vet. Akad. Haudl. 1837, p. h2. 



J Ofvers. Vet. Akad. FHrh. 1S04, pp. 510 — .''I'il. 



