630 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



glittering in the sunshine or, in the darkness of night, 

 shining with ))!ios])horescent lustre, motionless und drift- 

 ing witli wind ;ind tide — perliaps dazed or senseless 

 after a too sudden ascent from deejj water, as is the 

 case with the true deep-sea fishes — , still it sometimes 

 shows considerable activity in its movements. On such 

 occasions it may be seen leaiting high out of the water, 

 as Day tells us on the authorit}' of Couch's notes and 

 of the verbal statement of Dunn. A large Sunfish that 

 had been harpooned in the open Atlantic by the crew 

 of the H'tronddle, had such ])Owcr in its tins that, wlien 

 it took to flight on feeling the blow of the harpoon, it 

 almost succeeded in drawing boat and all witli it down 

 to the depths. 



That the .Sunfish also visits com])aratively shallow 

 water off sandbanks, islands, or the coast of the main- 

 land, appears from the fact that its intestine-like stomach 

 has fi'equently been found to contain Zostem and alga^, 

 even those that oidy grow at a depth of a fe\v fa- 

 thoms. Still, its proper food is probably animal, though 

 varied by these vegetable sul)stauces. Among the frag- 

 ments of these plants Kroyer found in its stomach and 

 intestine the scales of some fish, which he supposed 

 ti) have l>een the Sole, togetiier with Serfiilar'ue and 

 OphiunB. WAHUiKEN enumerates, besides the vegetable 

 substances, fragments both of crustaceans and shellfish 

 among the contents of the specimen he examined. Koiien 

 and CoLLETi' found numerous Medusas in the stomach 

 of the Sunfish; and this slimy food mav perhajis ex])lain 

 tlie composition of the fetid fluid, like tliin gruel, of 

 which the intestine is generally full. ( )n some occasions 

 the Sunfish has taken a hook baited with ordinary 

 Mackerel-bait or even with worms. 



The Sunfish has long been known in the Medi- 

 terranean and was found on the coast of England (Corn- 

 wall) by ^^'ILLUGIIBY and Ray. Blcjch includes it among 

 the fishes of the Ca])e of (rood Hope. Schlkgel gives 

 an excellent figure of the species from Ja])an; and Ram- 

 say exhibited in London, as we have mentioned above, 

 an unusually large specimen of the Sunfish from Port 

 Jackson" (Australia). Its range is, therefore, extensive, 

 probably embracing all the tropical and temperate seas. 

 In Scandinavia it must be regarded as rather rare. In 

 Sweden and Denmark it has most often been found dead, 

 floating at the surface or cast ashore, during late au- 

 tumn or winter. Under these circumstances it has been 

 met with not oidj' in the Cattegat, but also in the Sound 

 (a specimen .57 cm. long, in November, 1784, according 

 to Retzius), the Great Belt (a specimen about IS dm. 

 long, secured by Fiedler in November, 1862), and 

 Flensburg Bay (MoBius and Hkincke, soon after 1860). 

 The Royal Museum has received from Bohuslan two 

 specimens about 43 cm. long, the first taken by Pro- 

 fessor F. SuNDEVALL in October, 1834, the .second by 

 Prof. S. LovBN in 1856. Gothenburg Museum, accord- 

 ing to Malm, possesses 4 sj)ecimens fi-oin this locality, 

 between 40 and .t;j cm. long and taken from October to 

 December inclusive. The specimen 11 dm. long described 

 by Wahlbeeg, stranded in November, 1866 off the fish- 

 ing-village of Triislof, just south of Varlierg. On the coast 

 of Norway, according to Collett, the Sunfish is more fre- 

 quent in its occurrence and has been found alive, even near 

 the Swedish frontier, off Fredrikshald, in October, 1870. 

 Se\eral large specimens have been taken off Bergen and 

 in Trondhjem Fjord. Even off the extreme north of Nor- 

 way, in Alten Fjord, a Sunfish 1 1 dm. long has been found''. 



" Gt. Intern. Fish. Exhib., London 1883, Cat. Exhib. N. S. Wales, p. 4G. 



' While this slieet was in the press, I received tlirough Mr. C. A. Hansson a fresh specimen, 40 cm. in length, caught off Lesund, at 



the entrance of Dynekil, a fjord in the northernmost part of Bohuslan, on the 6th September, 1892. I here give tlie priucipal measurements 



of this specimen: 



Lengtb of the body from the tip of the snout to the middle of the m^irgin of the caudal tin 492 mm. 



„ „ „ head „ „ ., ,, ., ., „ .. ,. „ ,, front margin of the gill-opening, in % of the length of the body _ 29.9 „ 



Greate3t depth of the body (at the anal aperture), in % of the length of the body _ 66. T „ 



„ thickness ,, „ head (at the temples) „ „ ,, „ „ ,, „ „ 18.9 „ 



Distance from the tip of the snout to the beginning of the dorsal fin, in % of the length of the body 67.1 „ 



„ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ ., anal „ ., „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 70.7 „ 



Lnngth of the base of the dor.'ial tin, in % of the length of the body ^ 19.8,, 



,, „ „ „ „ ,, anal „ ,, ., ., „ ., ., ., „ 19.8 „ 



„ ,, ,, longest ray „ „ dorsal „ „ ,, ,, ,, ,, ., ., „ 42.2,, 



„ ., „ ,. „ „ „ anal „ ,. „ „ „ ., „ „ „ _ 40.8 „ 



„ „ middle „ „ ,, caudal „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 12.G „ 



Distance between the anal aperture and the beginning of the anal tin. in % of the length of the body , _. 6.5 ,. 



Length of the pectoral fins, in % of the length of the body _ 12.6 „ 



,, „ „ snout, in % of the length of the head _ 49.3 „ 



,, ,, „ orbit, „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 17.1 „ 



„ „ ,, postorbital part of the head, in % of the length of the head - - 3^.4 ,, 



Height of the orbit, in % of the length of the head _.. 14.3 „ 



LongitudinJil diameter of the cornea, in % of the length of the head _ _.. 13.2,. 



Vertical „ „ , „ „ „ „ „ 12.9 „ 



Breadth of the interorbital space, in % of the length of the head _ .^)5.8 „ 



The iris was blue, with white inner and outer margins of a faint golden Justre. The left eye (but not the right) had a white spot 



in the lower part tliereof. The pupil was of a little deeper blue than the iris. 



