BIMACULATED SUCKEU. 



303 



III, p. 3G1; Day, Fh/i. Gt. Brit, /rcl., vol. I, p. 192, tab. 



LVII, fig. 3; LiLU., Sv., Norg. Fi.^k., vol. I, p. 739; Coi.i,., 



N. Mag. Naturv., Bd. 29, p. 73. 

 Lepadogastev ocellntus + Desfontainn + rcticiilatur: + Mirliel/i, 



Risso, Ichlh. Nice, p. 74 et 77; Etii: Mer., vol. Ill, p. 



275 et 277; Mirbelia Desfontainii, Cankstk., Arch. Zool. 



Anat. FisioL, vol. Ill, fasu. 1, j). 192, tab. Ill, figs. 5 el G. 

 Lepadogastev ocellatns + maculatua + piincUitiia + liueatus, 



GuiCH., Explor. Alger., ^'e. Plii/s., ZooL, V, pp. 109 et 



110, tab. G, figs. 3—5. 



The length of the ISiiuaculated Siickev probabl}' 

 (lues not exceed about 5'^, or G cm. The hirgest spe- 

 cimen mentioned by Canestrini was 53 mm. long. Day 

 assumes that it attains a length of at least 2 in. (51 

 nun.); and Moreau states that its maximum length is 

 GO mm. According to v. Duben and Koren its usual 

 length on the coast of Norway is at most 37 mm. The 

 sijecitic name of this fish is derived from a very sin- 

 gular, Ijut inconstant markiuii', and all the numerous 

 synonyms given above are due chiefly to the variability 

 of the coloration. '"The ground-colour is always reddish", 

 say V. Duben and Koken, "clear and bright, with a 

 more or less pronounced dash of yellow, ^\•hich forms 

 small, irregularly arranged spots and dots or continuous 

 l)ands, along the back and sides, or a row of large 

 spots across the back etc. Straight across the forehead, 

 between the eyes, we generally find a lighter streak, 

 and behind the latter a darker-coloured belt extends 

 across the body. On the sides, just behind the base 

 of the pectoral fins, there generally, though not always, 

 appears a round, black or dark purple spot, very dis- 

 tinctly and sharply marked and edged with a narrow, 

 white stripe. The belly and the whole of the under 



finely dotted with blue, and without the least trace of 

 the two ])ectoral spots. 



()i) ihc coast of Norway, at least at certain spots 

 to the south-west, between Stavangei- and Ti-(jndhjem, 

 the Bimaculated Sucker can hardly be called rare, if 

 not common. It occurs at a depth of 20 or 30 fathoms, 

 especially \\here the bottom is soft and strewn with 

 shells to which it may attach itself and its eggs. "On 

 one occasion," write v. Duben and Koren, "five spe- 

 cimens were taken together, attached to the shell of a 

 Ci/piiiia islandlca. On taking this little fish out of the 

 water with the hand, it instantly attaches itself to the 

 finger; even when thi'own into alcohol, it sometimes 

 adheres to the side of the vessel for a moment. Even 

 in the water it is generally seen keeping quite still 

 and adhering to some object, with the tail bent for- 

 wards, right up to the head''. The eyeballs are extra- 

 ordinarily prominent" and may be turned, independently 

 of each other (almost more than in the Flounders), in 

 every direction; and when the fish is fixed to the bot- 

 tom, it follows with its eyes, Avithout the slightest turn 

 of the head, every movement of any object, a ]>air of 

 pincers for example, drawn through the water round 

 about it. If the pincers come too near, the fish winces 

 slightly, or moves in a gliding manner, without loosing 

 its hold. If it is torn away by force, it makes all 

 possible haste to re-attach itself to the first suitable 

 object." There is only one instance recorded of its 

 occurrence in Sweden. On this occasion a specimen 

 26V2 i""i- Jo"o "^^'as taken by Dr. Carl Aurivillius'' 

 in a dredge, among the Weather Islands (Vaderoarne) 

 surface are usually light yellow, with or without red off Fjellbacka, at a depth of about 40 fathoms, on the 



spots or streaks on the lower jaw and the sides of the 

 tail. The eyeballs are grayish olive-green at the top, 

 with a brownish band in the middle, and below this 

 somewhat lighter. The iris is golden-yelloAv, the pupil 

 with beautiful shades of green and blue. The pectoral 

 fins and the whole of the adhesive apparatus are always 

 without spots, l:)ut the unpaired fins are mottled with 



so-called Coral Bank, east of Storo. In Denmark it is 

 unknown, but .south of its true habitat, the Mediter- 

 ranean, it has been found by Steixdachner'' oft' Tenerift'e. 

 According to Rissu the female is large with roe 

 towards the end of May. On the 20th of July, on 

 the coast of County Down (Ireland), Hyxdmax' took 

 in a dredge, at a depth of 15 fathoms, a Venus rh- 



yellow and red, more or less bi'oken, transverse bands." ginea, in whicli he found a Bimaculated Sucker, to- 

 Mo.NTAGu" desci'ibes the colour of the fry as green, gether with the eggs and some specimens of the neAvly- 



" Mem. Wern. Nat. Hist. Soc, vol. I, p. 92. 



' The fishes of the preceding family have the same habit, as we have remarked above. 



' "No words," says Hughes, "can describe the singular beauty of its eyes. They are perfectly gemmeous, and appear like living 

 opals set in burnished gold." 



'' According to Lilljeboro, 1. c. 



<■ Stzber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Math. Xaturw. CI., LVII, I (1868), p. 6%^. 



f See Thompson, Nat. Hist. Irel., vol. IV, p. 213. 



