DEALFISH. 



;i9 



it is sometimes taken in aiituiuti, in the Herring-seines; i 

 and Day describes a specimen 174 fin. long, which 

 was taken in a stake-net off Montrose. Wiien the Deal- 

 tish has been fouiifl in the Sound itself, it has also 

 naturally had a long sti'etch of comparatively shallow > 

 warei- to ti-iverse. The specimen which Lill.jehorg 

 obtained in 1848 oft" the coast of Norwegian Finmark, 

 was also taken with a dredge, at a depth of 2 or 3 fa- 

 thoms; and XiLs.so.N' probably refers to this specimen 

 when he says that the Dealfish "is sometimes discovered j 

 lying at tlte bottom by tlie fishermen, and is then de- 

 scribed as shining like the brightest silver. The fisher- 

 men let down a diafjfi" and strike the fish, for it is 

 a veiy poor swimmer and by no means quick in its 

 movements." These instances, however, are rare, and 

 in the great majority of cases the Dealfish has been 

 found cast ashore bv the waves or floating in its death- 

 struggles at the surface of the water. Up to the present 

 time nothing has been found in its stomach to suggest 

 the idea tliat the object of its wanderings is the cap- 

 ttire of some prev which may have fled to the higher 

 regions of the ocean''. Collett supposes that most of 

 the specimens that have migrated from deep water, 

 have been females'; but it is far from pi-obable that 

 it is to deposit their eggs that they make their way 

 to the shallows; for the frv have never vet been found 

 on anv of the Atlantic coasts. 



The eye-witnesses of the movements of this fish 

 declare that it swims on its side, like the Flounders. 

 Their conduct under circumstances foreign to their na- 

 ture and when probably suffering from some disease, 

 cannot be unresei-vedly recognised as normal. But that 

 this is possibly their custom, or at least a habit to 

 \vhich they often resort, is apparently shown by the 

 difference between the two sides of the body that oc- 

 curs in certain individuals, which in a certain degree 

 reminds us of the want of svmmetrv in the Flounders, 

 and was first remarked bv Xilssox. Lilljeborg was 

 informed V)v the fishermen of Finmark, with regard to 

 ills specimen, that the right eve was brighter than the 

 left. According to LCtkex's table of measurements the 



eyes were of different size in four of the ten specimens 

 whifh he measured in this respect''. In one of the 

 three specimens preserved in spirits in the Royal Mu- 

 seum, as we have remarked above, both the jaw-bones 

 on the right side are larger than those on the left; 

 and though the other two specimens are symmetrical 

 in this respect, the mouth, when protruded, is oblique. 

 According to the oliservations hitherto recorded as to 

 the arrangement of the jaw-teeth and the vomerine 

 teeth, we must regard the cases as exceptional in which 

 their number is the same on both sides. A certain 

 want of symmetry must, therefore, be acknowledged', 

 even if it be inerelv one of the numerous individual 

 variations of this genus. 



The Dealfish belongs to the abvssal depths between 

 Iceland and the north of Norway. It has oftenest been 

 met with north of the polar circle, but also on several 

 occasions oft' the south of Norway and on the Scotch 

 coast. It has been observed even on the coast of Ire- 

 land. In 1823 Mauklix brought home from the north 

 of Norway the first Scandinavian specimen on record-', 

 its length being about 156 cm.; and in 1837 S. Lovex 

 caught two specimens in West Fjord, the one about 

 11 dm. long and the other about 13 dm. Since this 

 time the Dealfish has often been met with on the coast 

 of Norway: between 1875 and 1883, according to Col- 

 lett, 10 instances of its capture were recorded. In 

 the autumn of 1827 a specimen came ashore between 

 the Skaw and Fredrikshavn ; on the 6th of May, 1879, 

 another specimen was cast ashore to the south of the 

 Skaw; and on the 8th of February, 1881, a third spe- 

 cimen, 830 mm. in length, the smallest on record, was 

 taken about 6 miles south of the Skaw, and forwarded 

 to Copenhagen Museum, where another specimen is also 

 preserved which was received in June, 1886, from 

 Frederikshavn''. Several specimens have thus been taken 

 in Denmark, but only two in Sweden. The first was 

 found on the 22nd of April, 1879, on the lee of Vinga, 

 in the island-belt of Gothenburg, and was received by 

 Mr. N. MoLix on behalf of the Royal Museum; and 

 the second, according to Lilljeborg, was taken in the 



" A kind of harpoon-dredge with which the fishermen draw up the seals which have sunk to tlie bottom after being shot. 

 ' It might otherwise be supposed that, when it is taken in the Herring-seines, it has followed the Herrings from deep water. 

 •-■ In the long ovaries of a female 246 cm. in length Collett estimates the number of the eggs at between 550.000 and 580,000. 

 The testes, according to LCtkex and Sparre-Schseider, are long and timbriated. 

 ■^ L. c, p. 204. 

 ' Cf. Kroter, 1. c, p. 599. 



■'■ Cf. NiLSS., Prodr., 1. c. The specimen, which is still preserved in the Royal Museum. Is damaged and dried. 

 ^ Peterse.v, Vid. Meddel. Naturh. For. Kbhvn 1884, p. 156. 



