558 



SCANDINAVIAN FISIIKS. 



depth of 20 — 30 fathoms iu Gulhnaren. It feeds on 

 small fishes, mollusks, and. crustaceans; one of the Royal 

 Museum specimens has its stomach distended by a 

 shrimp that it has swallowed. The spawninp;'-scason 



in their aquarium the females spawned in April. It 

 is at the middle of May too, according to Coucii, that 

 the fry first appear at the surface, staying there until 

 the end of autumn. During this season they live in 



proper seems to occur in winter and spring, though it . the same manner as the other Couchlce, being lively 

 may begin as early as August, foi- at the end of this and, for their size, voracious, ])ut cautious and always 



month CoRXiSH found a gravid female with partially 

 ripe eggs. According to Couch" tlie Five-Bearded Rock- 

 linof builds a kind of nest with the common coralline 

 {Corallina officinalis) for its eggs. The eggs and the 

 sprigs of seaweed are packed one after another in a 

 hole or rocky crevice at low-water mark. Bkook' has 

 alread)^ remarked, however, that this account of tlie 

 laying of tlie eggs may be due to a confusion ^vith 

 some other species, for he found the eggs floating about 

 in the water of his aquarium, where he had some fe- 

 males of this species ^\•hich spawned in May and June. 

 M'Intosh and Prince'', on tiie other hand, found the 

 eggs floating in the sea lietween Mai'ch and May, and 



ready to take shelter under an)- floating object, often 

 among the tentacles under tlie disk of a jell\--fish. 

 Birds and fishes chase them eagerl)', and as food for 

 lai'irer fishes thev are not without importance. The 

 full-grown Rocklings also contribute to the support of 

 the large bottom-fishes; but on account of its small 

 size, in Scandinavia at least, the Five-Bearded Rockling 

 is of little importance as human food. Parnell tells 

 us, however, that at midsuinmer it is pretty often taken 

 on the hook in the Firtli of Forth and brought to Edin- 

 burgli for sale, being exposed in tlie mai'ket with Cod- 

 lings and Whiting, and forming a very palatable dish 

 ^\•hcn fried. 



Genus RANICEPS. 



Ta-o dorsal fins, the anterior beiiir/, however, riidimentarii and hardly distinguishahle, irith onli/ three rai/s: one 

 anal fin. Ventral fins with 6 rays, the first tiro ending in long, free, curved tips. (Jardiform teeth on the inter- 

 maxillary hones, in the lower jan\ and on the head of the vomer. BrancJtiostegal rays 7. 



This genus contains only one species, which is 

 further distinguished by a large, broad, depressed head, 

 brachiate pectoral fins (with long base, set, as it were, 

 on a short shaft), a short barbel under the chin, and 

 the absence of ciecal ajjpendages (thougli we find rudi- 

 mentary traces thereof) round the pylorus. It also 

 differs, though with individual variations, from the 



other genera of the Gadoid family in the ciliation of 

 the scales at the margin. 



The name of Raniceps was given the genus by 

 CuviER (1817). Two years after, in 1819, Hollberg 

 bestowed upon it a name of Greek derivation (Batraco- 

 cephalns), but of the same meaning (Frogs-head). 



THE LESSER FORKED BEARD OR TADPOLE FISH (sw. jiatfaeen or rADDTORSKEN). 



RANICEPS RANINUS. 



Plate XXV, iig. 3. 



Coloration hroicnish hlack, with wl/ite edges to the second dorsal fin, at tlie top of the caudcd fin, and in front of 

 the anal fin; the free tips of the ventral rays also ivhite. Walls of the month and of the pharyngeal cavity white. 



■ R. hr. 7; TJ. 3,61—07; A. 55 — Gl ; P. 21—23; V. 6; C. 

 31—35; Vert. 44—45. 



Syn. Lesser forhed-beard {Barbus minor Cornubiensis), Jago apud 

 Raium, ^pt. Metli. Fisc, p. 1G4, fig. 8; Bleiinitis fusciis, 



" Fhh. Brit, /.v/., vol. Ill, p. 109. 



' Journ. Lin. Soc. London, Zool., vol. XVIII (1885), p. 298. 



' Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb., vol. XXXV, part. Ill, p. 832. 



