nriinoT. 



537 



The I^urbot is one of the most vorafious fishes. It 

 devours almost everything that coincs in its wav, live 

 or even decomposed. It seems to live chiefly on small 

 fishes, insects, worms, and the like, and in particular 

 on fish-roe. It haunts the spawning-places of other fishes, 

 and does great damage there by devouring the roe after 

 its deposition. It can also swallow comparativeU' large 

 fishes. A Burbot 22V2 in. (57 cm.) long which Sunde- 

 VALL exanuncd in tlie month of December, was found 

 to liave swallowed a Pike 11^ 5 in. (30 cm.) in length. 

 The head of the latter, which lay bent in the strongly 

 distended stomach of the Bui'bot, at the extreme end 

 of the abdominal cavity, was, with the exception of the 



t() hatch, but the period of hatching, strictly speaking, 

 begins appai'cntly at tlie end of four weeks*. The new- 

 hatched fry, scarcely 3 mm. long, are always sharply 

 curved in front; 1)ut many specimens are found which 

 seem to be prematurely hatched and lie quite in a ring. 

 The latter move but seldom, and only in a circle; some 

 of them are further developed after some time, but others 

 die soon. The sitecimens uliicli ai-e straight at the tail 

 (fig. 128), are feirly active. They swim with a quivering 

 movement of the body, generall}- up towards the sur- 

 face, whence they sink iiKjtionless towards the bottom. 

 While swimming they move the pectoral fins rapidly. 

 Even after 30 days fry only slightly more than 3 mm. 



teeth, almost digested, while the caudal fin projected \ long are found. The subsequent development also pro 



in a crushed condition between the teeth of the Burbot. 

 In central Sweden the spawning-season of the Bur- 

 bot begins in January and apparently proceeds during 

 the whole of Februarv. The fishermen state that the 

 young Burbot S})awn earlier than the older ones. To 

 the north of Lapland the spawning-season is said to be- 

 gin later. The spawning-place is chosen in shallow water 

 with a bottom of sand or clay. These spots are known 

 by the fishermen as 'Burbot-ridges' (lakdsar). In Lake 

 Wetter, where according to Widegijen the spawning com- 

 mences at the beginning of February, but according to 

 others not until March, the Burbot is stated not to ascend 

 towards the shore or to the shallowest parts of the lake to 

 spawn, but to remain in deep ^vater, generally at a depth 

 of 30 fathoms". The roe is deposited separately and lies 

 loose at the bottom. There are two kinds, one yellow, 

 the other clear and almost colourless, but artificial fer- 

 tilization has succeeded in both cases. The great fe- 

 cundity of this fish is shown by the fact that Cedekstrom 

 computed the number of eggs in a female to be about 

 1(50,000, SuxDEVALL about 180,000. Bexecke states the 

 number at about a million, Norback at about five mil- 

 lions. The segmentation of the yolk begins in about 24 

 hours; after 15 or 16 days the eyes begin to appear in 

 the egg, and a day or two after small stai'-like pigmental 

 spots may be seen on the surface of the embryo. At the 

 same period the pulsation of the heart (15 — 50 beats 

 per minute) is distinctly visible. The i-evolutions of the 

 embrjo within the egg become also distinct. After the 

 lapse of three weeks from the impregnation the roe begins 



ceeds slowly. At the age of one year the Burbot is only 

 90 — 120 mm. long, according to Norback, and is not 

 capable of reproducing its species until four years old. 

 Throughout Sweden this fish is called lake. The 

 names of stenlake (Stone Burbot) and Jerlake (Clay Bur- 



Fig. 128. New-hatched young specimen of Lotta lota (taken at the 

 beginning of April, 1855), hardly 3 mm. long. After Sundevaij,. 



bot) refer merely to the nature of the bottom on which 

 the fish is taken. On the Baltic coast, however, the former 

 name is also applied to the Mviparous Blenny {Enchely- 

 opus), to which the Burbot has some resemblance. The 

 small Burbot too, a few years old, which are generally of 

 dark colour, and may often be found on the shore under 

 the stones in a foot of water, are often called steiilakar. 

 The Burbot ranks among the most delicious fishes, 

 though the elaborate method in wliich it is pi'epared for 

 table, where it appears as a kind of ragoiit (Sw. stufvad 

 lake = Lotte a la Villeroi), no doubt contributes to its 

 reputation. The flesh is Avhite and firm. The liver is 

 considered an especial delicacy. The older writers state 

 that the roe is unwholesome", but in Sweden it is eaten 

 freely without any evil results. In many places it is made 

 into a palatable kind of caviare. The Burbot caught in 

 Lake Siljan has long** been most highly praised for its 

 excellence. As the Swedish proverb says: 



" See Landtbr. Akad. Tidskrift 1863, p. 212. 



* According to Norback not until afler two or three months. 



' Cf. Kboyer, 1. c, p. 183 and Day, 1. c, p. 310. 



'' 0. SiljerstrSm-Larsson (sub pries. A. Gruswai.i.), 'Siljon (disp. Upsaliiv 1730), p. 3." 



Scandinavian Fishes. 



68 



