264 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



of the veins in the circulation of the blood; when the 

 mouth is being closed, they hinder the passage of the 

 Avater, which is thus forced back through the gill-open- 

 ings. They are, therefore, most highly developed in fishes 

 whose teeth are too long to admit of the entire closing 

 of the mouth, and to a certain extent they take the place 

 of mobile lips, wliicli might pertoi'in the same function. 

 Ill spite of the somewhat small size of these folds in 

 the Gobies, they are still sufficiently developed to en- 

 able the tish to maintain a continuous flow of water 

 into the mouth, ^vithout moving the jaws. They onl}' 

 ac-t when the mouth is open and while it is being closed. 

 As soon as the mouth is shut, the lips serve the same 

 ])urpose. But just because the folds operate only when 

 the mouth is open, the tish is able to pump in water with 

 its free, very bi'oad and flat tongue, in exactly the same 

 way as certain pai-ts of the maxillary feet of the Deca- 

 pods pump out water from the gill-sac. When the 

 tongue is protruded, the water fills the pouches formed 

 by the folds, the opening of the mouth is stopped, and the 

 water is forced back. In this way many kinds of small 

 creatures are caught which the fish would lose, if they 

 were disturbed by the stronger motions of the ja\vs." 



D'Orbigny" often observed the Freckled Goby in 

 the salt-water reservoirs in the neighbourhood of La 

 Rochelle, and he states that it there takes up its 

 abode under some shell, and digs small hollows, radi- 

 ating from this centre, in the sand. There it lies 

 and watches, until some tin}' creature falls into one 

 of the hollows, when it instantly darts out and seizes 

 its victim. 



That the Freckled Goby, however, does not alwavs 

 feed on such small creatures, is shown by Sun7)Evall's 

 collections made in the island-belt of Stockholm. Among 

 them we find a Freckled Goby, 50 mm. long, tliat has 

 swallowed the third part of a Ten-spined Stickleback 

 {Gasterosteus puiiglfms), of at least half its own length, 

 which has, however, stuck in its throat, piercing its 

 palate Avith the anterior dorsal spines. 



According to Malji the Freckled Goby is also easj^ 

 to catch, as it i-eadily takes a hook baited with a bit 

 of shellfish. 



This species is of as little immediate value to man 

 as the rest of the genus; but Heincke states that it 

 forms the chief part of the food of the Cod and the 

 Bullhead, and some portion of that of the Herring. 



Genus APHYA. 



Bodji fahiy elonfjated, sides covered with thin, deciduous, ci/chid sc(Ues. Simple, fixed, pointed or in part blunt 

 teeth, in a sinyle or double roM\ in the lower jaw and on the intermaxillary hones. Five rays in the first dorsal 

 fin. Funnel formed by the ventral fins united to the ventral side only at the base. Gape comparatively laryc, 

 and the J((irs long, the least depth of the tail being at most 60 % of the length of the lower jaw, which is equal 

 to, or more titan, half tlic lotyth of the liead. Branchiosteyal membranes coalescent only in front, at the tip of 

 the isthmus, and the yiU-openings, therefore, large and broad, set almost horizontally. Branchiostegal rays 5. 



In England Whitebait {Clupea tdba) is the name 

 given to a number of small fishes, consisting chiefly of 

 young Herrings, Sticklebacks etc., which are caught in 

 considerable quantities, and, when fried, form a much 

 esteemed dish; and in the countries bordering on the 

 Mediterranean, Nonnat'' or Nounaf is the French name 

 applied to fishes used in the same way, fried or stewed 

 in milk, and consisting chiefly of young Atherines and 

 the fry of the species which ff)rms the genus Jphya. 



Even the ancient Greeks, however, had acquired a taste 

 for this course of fish, quickly parboiled in oil, and 

 called the small fishes difvrj', in the belief that they 

 were not generated in the ordinary way, but "created 

 in the water," to use an expression still in vogue among 

 the Scandinavian fishermen (i. e., born of the sea-foam 

 etc.). Aristotle, however, distinguished between several 

 kinds of these fishes, and resrarded some of them as 

 reall)' lieing the fry of other fishes. Among these he 



" Valenciennks (Cuv., Vai,., 1. c, p. 4a). 



'' JVon natns. 



' (X priv. and (pi'iO, to beget. 



