518 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



The second dorsal lin is separated from the first 

 by an interval equal to the space occupied l)y t^vo 

 rays, and Ijegins at a distance from the tij) of the 

 snout equal to aliout ;)9\'2— 38 % of the length of the 

 body, or slightly less than the base of tlic hn, wliich 

 measures about 41 — 44V2 % of the length of the body. 

 It is made u]) of 3,7 — 39 raj^s, most of which are 

 doubly bifid. The first 22 or 21 form a fin of nearly 

 uniform height, slightly lower l)ehind, the tip of each 

 ray projecting in the shape of a small, flat lobe beyond 

 the fin-membrane. The following 17 or 18 rays do not 

 extend Ijeyond tlie membrane, ^vhich forms an evenly 

 riiunded and distinctl}' higher part of the fin. The first 

 of these ra^■s is almost simple, being only indistinctly 

 In-anched at the tip, and the second and third only 

 slightly surpass it in tliis respect. These tliree rays 

 gradually increase in height, the next six are of almost 



in In'ightness bv the [Mediterranean fishes in general. 

 This name is still preserved in Nasello, the Sardinian title 

 of this fish. In the rest of modern Italy it is known as 

 Merluzzo. The iris is also silver-gray, but in tlie living 

 fish has a dash of golden colour above. A small blackish 

 spot appears at tlie l)ase of the pectoral fin. The mouth 

 and the walls of the l)ranchial arches are blackisli. 



The rather sh(jrt and wide oesophagus passes into 

 a large, saccate, thick-walled stomach. When this is 

 empty, it shrinks together, with the inner surface in 

 creases and ^vitil one or two external transverse folds 

 at the l)lind end. The intestine, wliich issues from the 

 side of the anterior end of the stomach, is narrow and 

 short and forms oid^' two bends. Just at tlie begin- 

 ning it is furnished with one single appendage, which 

 is rather short and resembles a small round pouch of 

 the same -width ns the intestine, furnislied within with 



equal length, and the following ones grow rapidly I transverse folds. As we have mentioned above, the 



liver may be large, tliough its development, here as in 

 most of the Codfishes, is subject to considerable varia- 

 tion. In specimens preserved in spirits it is reddish 

 j^ellow, in fresh ones, according to Duiiamel and Holl- 

 BEUG, whitish gray. The gall-bladder is green. The 

 two ovaries have a common opening into the cloaca, 

 liehind the orifice of the intestine. Hollberg estimates 

 the number of the eggs in a large female at two million, 

 (Dlsen at seven million. The air-bladder is large, rather 

 firm, and hard. It is united by ligaments to the trans- 

 verse processes of the abdominal vertebra?, to the ribs 

 above the intestinal canal etc., and thus separates these 

 parts from the kidneys, which lie uppermost, under the 

 spinal column. The peritoneum is Ijlack throughout. 

 The Hake is a true marine fish, which seldom 

 enters the island-belts. Still, in the island-belt of Bo- 

 husliin for example, young specimens are found, though 

 in small numbers, all the year round. The Hake al- 

 waj's hugs the bottom, except when it chases its prey. 

 During the greater part of the year it lives alone, or 

 follows the Herring and Mackerel shoals in companies; 

 l)ut in the spawning-season it collects in fairly large 

 shoals at the spawning-places. 



In the Cattegat the spawning-season occurs at the 

 middle of July; but farther south the Hake spawns 

 earlier in the year, at the end of winter or in spring, 

 though even there the season may be later, as Avas the 

 case, according to Couch", on the English coast in 



shorter. At the end of the fii'st part of tlie fin the 

 membrane becomes thin and fragile; in the posterior 

 ])art it is niucli stronger. Everything sliows that the 

 fin \\\i\\ lie regarded as consisting strictly of two fins, 

 which are of <lifferent structure and begin, as in most 

 of the Cods, with shorter, more nearly simple rays, 

 liut have not separated from each other. 



The anal fin is of exactly the same structure — 

 sometimes of exactly the same extent — as the second 

 dorsal, generallv containing 22 rays in the first part 

 and 1.5 or Ki in the second. The first ray is rather 

 short, the second and third rays gradually longer. 



In adult sjieciinens the two middle rays of the 

 caudal fin are so much shorter than the outer ones 

 that, when tlie fin is expanded, the hind margin be- 

 comes (juite straigiit. Pietween the t^vo corners \ve find 

 18 — 20 thick, doulily bifid rays, and outside these rays, 

 on either side, 6 — 8 others, which grow gradually 

 shorter in front and are closely united, the outermost 

 ones being indistinct. The number of the rays may 

 thus rise to 36, perhaps more. In one specimen, liow- 

 ever, Sundevall found only 29 (6 + 17 + 6). 



The colour is silver-gray, on the back lilackish 

 gray. During life the fish has a bright lustre, which 

 is perhaps the origin of the NorAvegian name of Lysing. 

 The Greeks and Romans -were of quite another opinion, 

 for they gave the Hake the name of ass (Gr. o/'Og, 

 Lat. AseJlus) from its gray colour, which is far eclipsed 



" Fiy/ies of the Britisli Islands, vol. Ill, p. 100. 



