TORSK. 



565 



the Eels. The nucleus is very eccentric, sometimes | which was caught in August, in Trondhjem Fjord, the 



ovnries were thin, iilmost rihhon-shaped, and about half 

 as long as the abdominal cavity, and contMinod almost 

 microscopically small eggs. 



In the cranium we remark the tlat forehead 

 and occiput, with tlie occipital ridge as it were flat- 

 tcticfl ;it tlic upper mai'giii ;iiid extended on the same 

 plane as the top of the head, wliieli behind (at the 

 occipital surface) is as it were suddenly cut short at 

 i-ight angles, the squamosal bones (ossa pferotmi) pro- 

 jecting oidy slightly further back than the mastoid 

 l)ones (ussa cjiofica). Tlie former bones send out, for- 

 wards and inwards, converging towards tlie middle of 

 the fdi-ehead, up to the Suture between tlie closely 

 united IVont.iI bones, two broad, flattened, osseous ridges 

 wjiieli evidently correspond to tlie thin osseous canals 



extremely small, but sometimes, even in the largest 

 scales, very large. In the Torsk, as in tlie Eels, we 

 liiid the body marked with vermiform grooves, as it 

 were, at tiie spots wliere small scales are set in rows, 

 I'oi' the greater part concealeil in the skin, e. g. on the 

 occiput and the IVont pai-t of tiie back. The lateral 

 line does not pierce any scales; but most of the scales 

 that lie under or nearest its pores are more or less 

 irregular and oblique. Still, it is fairlv distinct, with 

 its ramified pores, espeeiall\- in front, whei'e, on the 

 a1)dominal part of tlu' body, it runs in a \ery long 

 arch fi'om the |)osttemporal region, above the gill-cover, 

 to a jHiint some way behind the perpendicular from 

 tlie beginning of the anal fin. It then I'uns fairly 

 straight or with a number of angular sinuations, along 



the middle of the side to the tip of the base of the \ that lam forward at the same spot in the Tadpole Fish, 



caudal hii. I .-nid which probal)Iy contain, like the latter, a muciferous 



The coloration in old specimens is light gray with duet. In other respects the structure of the cranium 



a dash of chocolate colour, growing paler downwards is Gadoid, but the surface of the top of the head and 



and shading into the grayish white colour of the lielly. 

 The tins at the base are of the same colour as the body, 

 but out towards the margin on all the vertical tins this 

 colour is interrupted bj- a black band, which at the 

 extreme margin is exchanged for white, pure or \\ith 

 a slight yelloAvish tinge. These black and white bands 

 are broadest on the dorsal and caudal tins and on the 

 hindmost part of the anal tin, narrowest on the rest of 

 the anal fin. The pectoral fins are to a greater or less 

 extent yellowish, the ventral blackish at the top. The 

 iris is bronze-coloured on a silver)- white ground. In 

 young specimens the yellowish colour also extends to 



the occipital ridge are finely punctated in a charac- 

 teristic manner with pores. The intermaxillary bones 

 most closely resemble those of the Hake and the Tad- 

 pole Fish, but are shorter (about '/.i 3S long as the 

 maxillaries), the lobate jirocess, which has the same 

 form and lies in the same backward direction as in 

 these two species, rising above the posterior third of 

 the bone, and extending almost as far back as the bone 

 itself. In the gill-cover apparatus the operculum is of 

 the Gadoid t^•|)e, with an angular incision at the hind 

 margin; but the lower corner is the more elongated 

 and the stronger, in which respect the Torsk is the 



the body and th6 bases of the vertical tins, on each direct opposite of the Tadpole Fish, where the upper 



side of the bodv in the form of hve or six broad, more 

 oi" less sharply defined, transverse liands, one of which 

 lies under the pectoral fin. In this coloration we find 

 a distinct resemblance to the Lings, though the juvenile 

 characters are here much more persistent, just as in the 

 structure of its fins the Torsk proves to be a far less 



corner f»f the operculum (\vhich is itself remarkably 

 long) is greatly elongated and pointed. The pelvic bones 

 are composed chiefly of the two terete prongs, which 

 meet at a somewhat obtuse angle, behind which lies the 

 thin, osseous lamina with articular surface for the raj's. 

 The Torsk (Sw. Luhhen ^^ Lubber) has long been 



taken with long-lines on the coast of Norway together 



differentiated (more original) form than the Lings. 



In the internal organs there is no essential dif- , with Halibut and Ling. Thus it probably leads e.s 

 ference from the other Codfishes. The abdominal ca- sentialh' the same life and lives generallv at the same 

 vity extends back to a line with about the seventh ray 



of the anal fin. The air-bladder is long and thick- 

 walled, firmly united to the transverse processes of the 

 abdominal vertebra^. The pyloric appendages are rather 

 few: Lill.jeborCt gives their number as 8, while in a 

 specimen 64 cm. long we found 15. In this female, 



Scandinavian Fishes. 



spots as these fishes. It occurs in the same manner 

 off Iceland and on the north-ea.st coast of North Amer- 

 ica, according to BRowx-GoonE, from lat. 65° to 42° N. 

 The Swedish Royal Museum po.s.sesses a' specimen from 

 Greenland, |)robably from Clanshavn. Whether the spe- 

 cies t)ccurs off Spitzbergen — as has been stated and as 



71 * 



