350 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



outside and al:)ove the ventral tins, the l)elly tlius ac- 

 quires a somewhat raised longitudinal margin. 



The transparency of the scales displays the Mac- 

 kerel-like coloration of the l)ody in all its brilliancy. 

 The back is greenish, with a steel-blue lustre of varying 

 intensity, darker, nearly black, at the middle, and form- 

 ing a longitudinal l^and at the boundary between it 

 and the sides. The sides are silvery, and the under 

 surface of the belly white. The dorsal and caudal tins 

 are of the same colour as the back, shading either into 

 green or lilue, the latter tin, however, with a dash of 

 gray. The pectoral, ventral and anal tins are of the 

 same colours as the sides and belly, light gray or yel- 

 lowisli white. The iris is silvery white, with a more 

 or less distinct dash of gold. 



The true geographical range of the Garpike extends 

 from the neighbourhood of Trondhjem in Norway south- 

 wards throughout the Mediterranean: it occurs in the 

 Black Sea as well as in the Baltic. North of Trondhjem 

 it is sometimes found, it is true, up to the extreme 

 north of Norway; but there, as on the coast of Iceland, 

 it is of I'arer occurrence. In the north of the Baltic 

 too, it l)ecomes i'arer. On the coast of Scania and off 

 Kiel it is common, but is found only in small ruimbers 

 on the Prussian coast (Benecke). Lindstroji assigns it to 

 Gothland and Ekstrom to the island-belt of Morko, while 

 LiLLJEBORG obtained specimens of an average size from 

 Roslag. According to Malmgren and Mela it ascends 

 the Gulf of Bothnia up to Qvarken and wanders east- 

 wards half-way up the Gulf of Finland; but in both 

 these arms of the Baltic it is rare. On the west coast 

 of Sweden, however, trom the Sound up, as well as on 

 the Danish coast and off the south and central parts of 

 Norway, it appears close in shore, in large shoals, every 

 year. Even in Sweden it sometimes enters the mouths 

 of rivers or penetrates higher up the stream: Nilsson 

 states that in the River Hoje it has been taken as far 

 up as Vilrpinge, near Lund". 



No less active than voracious, the Garpike is one 

 of the few fishes that really make their presence kno^vn 

 at the surface of the sea, where it appears in large 

 numbers, whether it l)e in order to spawn, in chase of 

 its prey, or itself in flight from some enemy. "There 



are times also," says Couch', "when the sea is calm and 

 smooth, that it may be seen engaged in solitary amuse- 

 ment at the surface, or perhaps many together, by 

 leaping again and again over some floating object, as 

 a rod or straw, or it may thrust itself bolt upi'ight out 

 of the water, to fall back again in an apparently clumsy 

 manner. It is an amusement with tisherboj's to throw 

 some slender stick to the Garfish, when it will execute 

 a variety of evolutions about and over it as it floats." 

 In pursuit of some little fish at the surface, or when 

 hunted itself, it may be often seen leaping out of the 

 water in the chase. "We were fishing yesterday," writes 

 Cornish'', "oft" Lamorna, in about eight fathoms of water, 

 and close in sliore, when our attention was attracted 

 by a noise in the water near us. It was caused by a 

 large shoal of gerricks scudding very rapidly on the 

 surface of the ^vater. The appearance was as though 

 the fish were actually swimming on the surface, with 

 the larger portion of their bodies in the air, but this 

 was probably an optical delusion, caused by the constant 

 succession of fish coming to the surface. They passed 

 close by us, less than five fathoms from the bows of 

 our boat, aiid as they passed we saw in chase of them 

 certainly one, and probably more than one, large Tunny 

 ("albacores, ' as they call them here). The tunnies were 

 dashing about after their prey, almost on the surface 

 of tlie water, and removed all doubt as to their identity 

 by more than once springing clean out of water close 

 by us." Schagerstrom describes a similar scene in the 

 Sound'': "It is a really fine sight on a clear day to see 

 a large shoal of these fishes hunted by Tunnies^ The 

 Garpike keep to the surface, and often leap a foot or 

 two out of the water." When the Garpike has taken 

 the hook (which must be oft'ered it at the surface and 

 constantly kept in motion), "it does not seek," saj's 

 Couch, "to escape by darting away, but, as if conscious 

 only of the annoyance from the restraint of the line, 

 it will mount to the surface, even before the fisherman 

 discovers that he has had a bite; and there, with its 

 body partly out of the watei', it struggles with the line 

 in a variety of active contortions." 



We have every proof that the Garpike leads the 

 life of a. surtace-fish, and in tliis respect it reminds us 



" In Holland the Garpike enters tlie branches of the Rhine; see Tijdschr. Nederl. Dierk. Vereen., Suppl., Deel II, p. 109. 

 * Fish. Brit, hi., vol. IV, p. 147. 

 ' Zoologist, vol. XXIII, 18C5, p. 9814. 

 " Phys. Sails. Tidskr. 1838, Haft. Ill, p. 297. 



' ScH.\GERSTRUM here writes Delphinus dclphis; but we learn from Kroyer that by sprinfjare the fishermen of the Sound mean 

 the Tunny. 



