606 



SCANDIN.WIAN FISIIKS. 



1i|i. Tlicv ;nr iiuidt' n\> of 111 IjivhicIrm! r;iy>s iiiid ;i 

 fliick iiu-iiiliraiic. Tlic ventral fins are I'ather sinnll 

 and lie c](^se to eacli othei-, in front of the ])ectoral 

 tins. They contain 3 rays, w hiiii ai-e i)ranchod at the 

 ti|) and ver\' difHcnit to distinguish. 



Tlie onl\ external diffei'ence lietween the sexes 

 that we have been able to discover, is that the males 

 are generally smaller and more slender than the females. 



The coloration of the Eelpont is not veiy diver- 

 sified. The gronnd-rolonr of tlie entii-e fish is yellowish 

 brown, the nnder snrfaee of the head and belly being 

 gra\ish yellow. ( )n the sides of tlie bod^•, back to the 

 depression in the dorsal fin, we find two rows of more 

 or less distinct transver.se spots, lo — 1.) in each row. 

 The spots of the lower row altei'nate more or less re- 

 gularh' with those of the upper and at the npper cor- 

 ner touch the latter, which advance some way over the 

 dorsal fin. Behind the incision in this fin the spots 

 grow graduallv less distinct towards the end of the tail. 

 The outer rim of the dorsal fin is black. The outer 

 margin of the anal fin is flame-yellow, like the tips of 

 the ventral fins. The pectoral fins are darker than the 

 others and edged with more dirty vellow. Several 

 blackish spots occur on the upper part of the head, 

 between the eyes and tiu' ti[) of the snout, and on the 

 cheeks, growing rather more indistinct on the gill-cover. 

 The iris is dark brown, with a fine, light yellow ring 

 round the pupil. 



'I'he internal organs remind us more of the Cotti 

 than of the ("ods. The esophagus and stomach are 

 short, the biittoni of the latter extending hardly be^'ond 

 a line \vith the middle of the pectoral fins >\'hen folded, 

 and bending downwards to form a shoi't pyloric part, 

 turned in a forward direction, at the end of which we 

 find tw(j short, saccate bull)S or rudimentary pyloric 

 appendages, one on each side. At the middle of its 

 length the intestine forms a winding bend, a curved 

 double coil. At first sight the liver seems to consist 

 of one single lobe, which curves upwards and surrounds 

 the small gall-bladder, the stomach, and the a'.sophagus; 

 but this lobe is di\ided distincth' enougii into three 

 parts, with the middle (outermost) lobe shortest and the 

 right lobe longest. The spleen lies just behind the 

 bottom of the stomach and is small and fiat, at the 

 upper (dorsal and also left) end pointed, at the lower 

 end rounded. The air-bladder is wantinir. The testes 



of the male are smooth and ol)long, lie close to each 

 other, and at the spawning season grow far forward, 

 close to the kidneys. The most remarkable of the in- 

 ternal organs of the Eelpout is the ovary of the female. 

 On opening a female which is not gravid we find the 

 ovarv, which is simjile and of oval form, lying right 

 under tiie kidneys and along the s])inal colunni. It is 

 of thin texture and partly filled with yellow eggs of 

 the size of a pin's head. On examining the ovarv after 

 the beginning of the period of gestation, when the tiyary 

 serves as a utei-us, we find the walls firmer and ])ene- 

 trated h\ a great number of bloodvessels, while to the 

 iimer surface are attached small, oblong, transparent 

 vesicles, which contain a clear fluid and a tiny embryo 

 floating in the fluid. At the last stage we find the sac 

 enormously distended and full of closely packed young 

 specimens lying free within the ovary itself. The ve- 

 sicles have collapsed, but are still attached to the walls. 

 During this period we generally find a great number 

 of the young expelled into the abdominal cavity itself 

 by the bursting of the ovary. In a female 31 cm. long 

 we have found altogether 196 young, each 37 nun. in 

 length. Seventy-five of them lay in the alidominal 

 cavity, the rest within the ovary. In another female, 

 322 mm. in length, we have counted 262 young. Other 

 writei's state the number of the young at over 300. 



The Eelpout seems to arrive at maturitv enrly, for 

 distinct eggs have been found in specimens only 15 cm. 

 long. Its faculty of giving birth to living young prc- 

 suppo.ses an actual copulation between the sexes, as well 

 as the fertilization of the eggs within the bod}- of the 

 mother. However, no such copulation has yet been ob- 

 served; nor can any certain time of year positively be 

 given as the spa^vning-season of the Eelpout, for at 

 almost all seasons we maj' find gravid and parturient 

 females and at the same time others that contain only 

 small eggs. The former are most often met with, Innv- 

 ever, in December and Januai'y. This agrees with 

 Bexeckk's statement (1. c.) that during the spring and 

 summer months — from JIarch to August — the males 

 have bright orange fins and wear a kind of festal dress. 



liiiEUM has observed in a salt-Avater aquarium the 

 manner in which the Eelpout gives liirth to its young. 

 "The fish," he says", "which even at otlier times is slug- 

 gish, seeks a certain spot in the acjuarium several hours 

 before parturition and stays there motionless, until all 



° Bremh's lliierleben, 2:te AuH., Die Fisclie, p. 188. 



