308 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



.•ippenclages. Still, -when it swims upon its pi'uy, it does 

 so 1)\- lits and starts, or approaches with extreme 

 lautioii and ver-\' sIo\v]\'. In its usual position, too, it 

 lies u]ion its side, whether swimming through the 

 water or resting on a rock". 



Its usual manner of gliding through the water is 

 also accom])lished by continuous undulating movements 

 uf the soft-ra^-ed dorsal fin, the corresponding part of 

 rhe anal fin, and the pectoral fins, the other fins re- 

 maining motionless*. Nevertheless, the Dory is said to 

 make long journeys from deep water to the shallows. 



caj)ti\e. The l)luish-black spot on each side of the 

 body is thus the mark left by Peter's grasp''. The 

 Dory, however, does not occur in any lake. It is a 

 true salt-water fish, in European waters being most 

 common perhaps in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic 

 outside it. On the south and Avest coasts of Great 

 Britain, however, it is still fairly common. In the 

 North Sea it becomes rarer and rarer towards the North, 

 and its true geographical range probably does not ex- 

 tend furthc'i' north than tlie Dogger Bank, though it is 

 taken once or twice a year on the Scotch coast. It 

 It is fond of a rough bottom, says Couch, or digs a i has i)een met with twice on the coast of Norway, 



hole in the sand, Avhere it hides, like rhe Angler, with 

 the long filaments of the spinous-rayed dorsal fin waving 

 like worms to entice its prey, which consists of Floun- 

 ders, Herrings, other fishes and small fry, cuttle-fish 

 and other mollusks, and crustaceans'. It is said to make 

 a, grunting noise Avhen drawn out of the water. It 

 generally leads a solitarv life, being onlv seldom taken 

 in large numbers, Init it is known and prized as a 



once at Glesvflr, in the neighbourhood of Bergen, and 

 again at the very head of Christiania Fjord. It has 

 only once been found in Sweden. On the 5th of August, 

 1887, a female with very small effCfs in the ovaries 

 and with the caudal fin somewhat damaged, thus ren- 

 dering the length, Avhich was probably 43.5 mm. from 

 the point of the lower jaw to the end of the middle 

 I'ays of the caudal fin, impossible to fix with certainty, 

 was caught off Stockevik in SkaftOland (Bohuslan). In 



dainty dish. The flavour of the flesh is compared to 



that of a lobstei''s claw'' or of the Turljot, or set even the Scandinavian waters this species is thus one of tlie 



higher than the latter. It is said to be best in early 

 spring, from January to March'', especiallv when it has 

 been kept a day or two, or rinsed in fresh water, after 

 it has been gutted. Its (jualities, howeyer, are not all 

 good: Day states that its spines are capable of inflict- 

 ing dangei'ous wounds. The spawniiig-season is said 

 to occur during the winter months^ Olsen states the 

 numbei' of eggs in a female specimen at 3,000. 



The singular name (Sankfepersfisk, St. Peter's Fish) 

 is derived from a tale to the effect that it was this fish 

 tliat St. Peter caught in the Lake of Gennesaret, and 

 out of whose mouth he took the tribute money. Ac- 

 cording to another version of the story, the apostle 

 caught the fish, but when lie heard the grunting sound, 

 interpreted it as a cry of com]jlaint, and released his 



rarest. B)- the rest of its geographical extension, Iioav- 

 ever, it seems to be a cosmopolitan species, for there 

 is only an extrefnely slight difference between this spe- 

 cies and Zens copensis of the Cape of Good Hope. 

 Tlie latter may perhaps deserve a distinct specific name 

 as the form marked b)' an increase in the number of 

 the spinous plates, while Zens pimgio, the species which 

 occurs in the Mediterranean, can ground its claim to the 

 rank of a distinct species oidy on the more advanced 

 development of some of these plates than of others. The 

 difference is still less, however, between the present 

 species, Zens jcqionicus and the Australian Zeus austra- 

 Us, the last of which GCnther, who had examined the 

 oi-iginal specimen described by Richardson, unhesit- 

 atingl)' referred to the same species as Zens faher. 



" Tliougli this habit of lying on its side lias not left such distinct traces in the structnre of the Dory as the similar, but mure pro- 

 nounced habit in tlie Flounders, still it has not been entirely without eifecl, for we find a want of symmetry even in this species. The 

 spinous plates at the bases of the soft-rayed dorsal fin and the anal fin are set farther forward on one side of the body than on the other, 

 and their number, too, is often different on either side. This is more often the case in old specimens than in young. 



' Saville-Kent, Nature, July .31, 187.S. 



" In the stomach of a Dory about 32 cm. long Corcri found 25 Flounders, some of which were cm. in length, 3 half-grown 

 Falher-Lasliers anil 5 pebbles from the beach, one of which was 4 cm. long. Another Dory not quite half a kilogramme in weight, had 18 

 Sprats, 2 Athorines, a ciittle-fisli and sonu? digested fragments of other species in its stomach. The Dor^" thus does not seem to be at a loss 

 liow to ]irocure food. 



■' Ol.SKN, I. c. 



' Br.ANCHfeRU, Noiw. IJiet. Gen. Pcches, p. 24lj. Olskn states, on the other hand, that the Dory is best from May to January. 



■^ Day, 1. 0. and Olsen, 1. c. 



'J The same tale is also told of the Haddock. 



