174 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



Tlie body is only slightly compressed, deepest and 

 broadest at the beginning of the first dorsal fin, from 

 which point it tapers sharply towards the caudal fin. 

 The back is almost straight and terete, the belly also 

 terete, but more or less pendent, especially in the 

 female. The greatest depth of the body is generally 

 even relatively greater in old specimens than in young, 

 and varies Ijetween about 16 and 21 "o of the length. 

 In the quite common, macrocephalic, deformed speci- 

 mens ■ — with the length of the head sometimes as much 

 as .38 % of that of the body — the depth is also ex- 

 cessively great, in some cases about ^ '., of the length 

 of the body. The greatest Ijreadth is about " 3 (60 — 

 7.T %) of the depth". 



The head is comi)arative])- large and wedge-shaped. 

 Its I'elative lengtli generally increases witli age from 

 al)out '4 to nearly ''3 of the length of the l)ody''; and 

 it is only during the first [lart of its growtli, till it 

 attains a length of alxiut 100 mm., that the Cod follows 

 the general rule that the relative length of the head 

 decreases. The forehead is fiat. A deep groove in 

 the occiput, deepest in fat and robust specimens, ex- 

 tends almost to the l>eginiiing of the first dorsal fin. 

 The eyes are i-ound, with oval orbits, and large, but 

 their relative size diminishes considerably during growth, 

 sinking from 8 to 4 % of the length of the body or 

 from about 33 to 13 ?» of the length of the head, while 

 the fish grows from .5 to 73 cm. Their jiosition is 

 such that tiie straigiit line from the tiji of the snout 

 to the ui)iK'r point of the gill-cover touches the inferior 

 miirgin of the pupil, and tlie length of the snout is 

 generally about ' ,, of the. postorbital length of the head, 

 but in young specimens may measure 80 or 90 % there- 

 of, and in old, on the other hand, sometimes only ^/g. 

 The breadth of the interorbital space, which also under- 

 goes relative diminution, though not so considerable, 

 measures about V'4 (usually 22 — 2.5 %) of the length of 

 the head. The nostrils, with their sliglitK- raised, lobate 

 margins, lie nearer to the eyes than to the ti|) of the 

 snout. The mouth is large, but not much cleft, the 

 corner of the mouth lying at least at some distance in 



front of the eye; and the uppei- jaw ])rojects more or 

 less beyond the lower. As in most <jf the Codfishes, 

 the transverse dermal folds in the mouth behind the 

 jaAvs are Avanting. Tlie length of the lower jaw follows 

 the head in its changes of growth, varying between about 

 12'/2 and IS'/^ %'' of the length of the body. The hind 

 extremities of the maxillary bones are broad and trun- 

 cate, their breadth at tliis ])oint being about 18 — 20% 

 of the length of the lower jaw. The distance between 

 the tip of tlie snout and this point als(-) increases with 

 the head, varying between 11 and 14 %'' of the length 

 of the body or 80 and 92 % of the length of the lower 

 jaw. The snout is formed liy a thick pad, projecting 

 beyond the upper jaw, and in old s]>ecimens is gener- 

 ally lilunt, in younger ones more pointed. We find an 

 exception to this in very young fish, under 50 mm. in 

 length, in whose case the upper jaw i)rojects only slightly, 

 if at all, in front of the lower. Under the point of the 

 chin there hangs a barbel, generally wavy, and varying 

 in length between about 50 and 80 % of the longitu- 

 dinal diameter of the eye. (,)n the intermaxillary bones, 

 as well as in the lower jaw, we find pointed, subulate 

 teeth of various sizes, in the lower jaw set in two or 

 three rows, and on the intermaxillary bones in patches, 

 Avhicli in front are broad and separated from each other. 

 The teeth are largest in the outermost row in the 

 ' upper jaw, and the innermost row in the lower, being 

 I here recurved and increasing in size towards the cor- 

 ners of tlie mouth, though the hindmost ones are some- 

 what smaller. In young specimens, however, only the 

 row of coarser teeth in the lower jaw is visible, the 

 smaller teeth that lie in front of this row appearing 

 later. Similar, cardiform teeth are set on the anterior, 

 angular part of the vomer. The pharyngeals are also 

 armed in the same way. Of tlie three upper pha- 

 ryngeals on each side the middle ones are the largest 

 and triangular in shape, the other two more elongated. 

 The two lower phai-yngeals are rather like branchial 

 arches and elongated, the lancet-shaped patch of teeth 

 being about four times as long as it is broad. The 

 branchial arches are furnished as usual with two rows 



so far as one (.oulcl ilecide — sec-incil to have bc-lcingod lu a Couiuion Cod about 12 dciii. long. That the Cod lias altaiiied .such a size oft' 

 (Jothlaiid, is very improbable; and as it is the greater iiiunber of just those bones which are left behind in (he curing of stockfish, and no others, 

 lliat still leniain in the Duowsday Fish, the suspicion readily suggests itself that the fish has been a large stockfish, brought by some Gotli- 

 land seaman from Norway, and deposited in the church, where in olden times everything remarkable and rare was preserved. 



" We must hero remark that our measurements of this species only comprise specimens up to a length of about 7'., dm. 



' In the so-called (jwlii.^ inacroceiihrdiis the length of tlic head is said even to exceed -j of that of the body. 



' In <1. iii(irriicei>lii(tn.'! somclimea at least as much as 18 %. 



•' In a. i/Kicroreji/i'ilns Bomctiriics at least as much as K'l'., %. 



1 



