386 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



The extei'iial dift'ereiices betAveeii tlie sexes are not 

 very distinct, but, to judge by the specimens before 

 us", they seem remarkable enougli. In the males the 

 pectoral fins are generally longer'', tlie annl tin higher'' 

 and the belly shorter'' than in the t'eniales' ; and in the 

 former the uppei- lip is ajjparcntly thicker Mnd the lower 

 jaAV sliorter-^. 



The Thick-lipped Grnv Mullet is the only repre- 

 sentative of its genus that may uin-eservedly be re- 

 cognised as a stationary fisli in Scandinavia. ( )n the 

 Norwegian coast, up to the neighbourliood of Bergen, 

 it is taken so often that it can scarcely be considered 

 rare, though it does not occur in sufficient quantity 

 to give rise to an)- special fishery. At some spots, 

 says CoLLETT, in Fla-kke Fjord for cxinnijle, it has been 

 taken on a few occasions in no inconsiderable nundier. 

 On the coast of Bohuslan it is ]-arer, and only solitary 

 specimens seem to occur there. The Royal Museum 

 has i-eceived 7 examples of this species from Bohuslan 

 since 1837, when a specimen .") dcm. hnig was taken 

 in October by Fries, off Bassholm. During the last 

 ten years Mr. C. A. Hansson has sent in 4 specimens 

 from Stromstad, which were taken l)etween May and 

 July. The Museum of Gothenburg, according to Malm, 

 received 5 specimens, which had been taken in Bohus- 

 lan between September and November, from 1851 to 

 18(jU. We have other specimens from Bohuslan — 6 



in all — recorded in Ekstrom" and Cedewstijom''. The 

 Thick-lipped Gray Mullet is common enough on the 

 west coast of Denmark, where, according to Winther, 

 it sometimes enters Liim Fjoi-d and the River Ribe. 

 On the east coast of Jutland, according to Warming", 

 it occurs annualh" in Kolding Fjord, wdiere it is taken 

 during Septcnd)er and (October, oftcnest after storms, 

 in nets on a sandy bottom. In the Sound, off Lands- 

 krona, several specimens were found in August, 1828, 

 liy Scha(;erstrum, who was the first to claim this spe- 

 cies for the Swedish fauna. According to MOinus and 

 Heincke solitarv specimens have l)een taken on several 

 occasions, in September and October, in Heri'ing-seines 

 in Kiel Bay; 1)ut in tlie iiuier parts of the Baltic it is 

 still unknown. 



However, the Thick-lipped Grav Mullet, like the 

 otlier Scandinavian species of this genus, has its true 

 home, where it occurs in shoals, and Avhere a fishery of 

 great value is carried on for it. farther south. North- 

 \vard from the Mediterranean and the .\tlantic outside, 

 it is found in great numbers up to the English Channel, 

 the Irish coast and the west coast of England and Scot- 

 land. It is apparently rarer on the east coast of Scot- 

 land; but is fairly common, accoi'ding to Day, even 

 among the Orkney and Shetland Islands. (_)n the coast 

 of Madeira it is common, according to Lowe, and also 

 among the Canary Islands, according to Steindachner. 



" Of the specimens belonging to the Royal Museum three are females and two males, while the specimen described and bequeathed 

 to tlie Museum by Schagkiisthum is probably a male from wliicli all the viscera have been removed. 



'' More than 15 "o of the lengtli of the body {though in one of the males this proportion = 1.')'2) or than 61 % <'f the length of 

 the belly from the outer point of the insertion of the ventral fins to the beginning fif the anal fin. 



<■ The height measuring more than 12 "» of the length of the body. Tlie length of the base of the second dorsal fin is thus less 

 than 70 % of the height of the anal fin. 



'' The distance between the outer point of the insertion of the ventral fins to the beginning of the anal fin is less than 31 "o of the 

 length of the body, and the length of the head more than 67 % of the former. 



' In all three females the length of the pectoral fins is less than 49 "o of tlie length of the belly from tlie outer point of the in- 

 sertion of the ventral fins to the beginning of the anal fin, the height (longest ray) of the anal fin at most 11 "<. of tlie lengfli of the body, 

 and the length of the belly, as measured above, between 31 and 32'/3 % of the length of the body. 



■^ In the three females the height of the upper lip is from 18 to 18',o % of the length of the head behind the eyes and from 27 

 to 29 % of the length of the lower jaw, while in the two males the former proportion is from 20 to 20'8 % and the latter from 31 '6 to 

 33"3. In the third male, however, we find an exception to the ordinary characters of the species, the height of the upper lip measuring only 

 16'3 % of the length of the head behind the eyes and 25 % of the length of the lower jaw. 



'■' Gbgs Vet. Vitt. Samb. Handl. New series, vol. 1, 1850, p. 37. 



'' Ufvers. Vet.-Akad. Forh. 187t5, No. 4, p. 65. 



' Tidskr. f. Fiskeri, 2:den Aarg. (1868), p. 122. 



