638 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



Gencs GASTR^A". 



Body ehiiitjafed {grcaivsi ilepth less ihau ',., tlie lengtli of tlir licad), in the alidniiih/dl rri/ioii pciitdfianal and only 

 slightly deeper than broad; the forepart {in front of the anal sjnne) shorter than the hind part, including the 

 caudal fin. Number of free spinous rays in front of the soft-rayed dorsal fin at least 13. Ventral fins inserted 

 at the middle of the Jong jielvic hones, tvhich lie at the hurer lateral edges of the belly and are irithout any firm 

 osseous connexion irith each other. Jan-teeth compressed. 



As we havt' mentiniiprl alxne, tliis germs contains only one sj)ecies: 



THE FIFTEEN-SPINED STICKLEBACK (s\v. tAngspiggen). 

 GASTILEA SPlXAClllA. 



Plate XXVIII, fig. 5. 



Distance beticecii the central sjrines and the anal sjiine less thcni ^ ^ of the length of the head or than °;5 of the 



distance between the former spines and the tip of the s)tonf. irhich distance is more tlian 72 % of tliat betircen 



the anal spine and the tip of the snout. Free dorsal spines of uniform si^e, except the hindmost, uhich is also 



the largest. Branchiostegal membranes united underneath into a broad, free dermal fold across the isthmus. 



B. bv. 3; /'. XIV''— XViB"-— 7: A. 15—7; V. 1|2; P. 9— 

 lO''; C. ,r+ 1 + 10+ 1 +.r; L. lat. 40; Vi-rt. 40—42. 

 Syn. Aculeatiis vel I'ungitius marinus longus, Schonev., Ichtli. ^'Ie.ii\ 

 Hotf!., [J. 10: Aculeatus marimis intijor, Id., ibid., tub. IV, 

 fig. .3 ; Qastero.'itens acnlcifs in dorso qnindecim, Art., Ichth. 

 Gen., p. .'j2; i>)jn., p. 81; Ccntriscii.-i, A, \, {&\w Spinodiia) 

 Klein, Hist. Pise, Miss. IV, p. 48; Stkum, Hdndm. Beskr., 

 part. I, p. .310. 

 Gasterosteus Spinaohia, Lin., Syst. Nat., ed. X, torn. I, p. 296; 

 Fii. Suec, ed. II, p. 119; Bl., Fiscli. Deutschl, part. II, 

 p. 84, tab. LIII, fig. 1; Retz.. Fn. Suec. Lin., p. 339; 

 Cuv., Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. IV, p. 509; Ekstr., Vet. 

 Akad. Handl. 1831, p. 305; NiLSS.. Prodr. Iclith. Sra7id., 

 p. 87; Ekstr., v. Wr., SIcand. Fislc., ed. I, p. 21, tab. IV, 

 fig. 3; SUNDEV., Stookl). L. Hush. Sallsk. Handl., H. VI 

 (1855), p. 79; NiLSS., Skand. Fn., Fisk., f. 112; Lindstr., 

 Gotl. L. Hush. Sallsk. Arsber. 1866, p. 15 (sep.); Gthb, 

 Cat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. I, p. 7; Sauv. {Gastraia) Nouv. 

 Archiv. Mus. Par., toiii. X (1874), p. 36; Bnoke (Gasterosteus), 

 Fiscli., Fischer., Fisch:. H'., 0. Preuss., p. 76; Huidb. 

 Fiscliz., Fisclier. (M. v. d. Borne), p. 99: Day, Fisli. Gl. 

 Bnt., Irel., vol. I, p. 246, tab. LXVIII, fig. 5: Mela, Vert. 

 Fen,)., p. 280, tab. IX. 

 ISpiiiactiia vulgaris, Flhng, Biit. Anim.. p. 219; Kr., Damn. 

 Fiske, vol. I, p. 193; Mgrn, Finl. Fiskf. (disp. Helsingf. 

 1863), p. 16; Coll.. Forb. Vid. Sel.sk. Christ. 1874, Tilla?gsb., 



p. 14; WiNTU., Naturh. Tidskr. Kblivn, ..^or. 3, vol. XII, p. 

 5; MoR., Hist. Nat. Poiss. Fr., torn. Ill, p. 171; Hansen, 

 Zool. Dan., Fiske, p. 31, tab. V, fig. 4; MOb., Bcke., Fiscli. 

 Osts., p. 64; Storm, N. Vid. Selsk. Skr. (Trondhj.) 1883, 

 p. 15; Lillj., Sv., Norg. Fn.. Fisk., vol. I, p. 370. 

 apinacliia Linnei, Malm, Gbgs, Boli. Fii., p. 373. 



Oi.>\ The name of Kipinacliia or, as Klein writes it, fSpinocliia 

 is, according to CrviER and Valenciennes, a Latinized form, dating 

 from the Middle Ages, of the French epinoche. 



The Fifteon-spined Sticklebiick is distinguished from 

 its relatives by the elongated form of the body, with 

 the greatest depth, at the base of the ventral tins, about 

 10'/., — 8'/, % of the length. From the head to the 

 vent the body is pentagonal, then (juadrangular, but 

 more and more depressed behind, until at the base of 

 the caudal tin it suddenly becomes laterall)' compressed. 

 The length of the body may rise, at least in the fe- 

 males, to 18' „ cm., lint is usually between 13 ;ind 

 15 cm. 



The ehingated hend measures between '^ and 'j' 

 of the length of the body, and in old specimens the 



" In order to enable us without tautology to retain the Linna;an specific name of spinacliia, we here adopt the generic name proposed 

 by Sauvage in 1874, a Latinized form of Cuvier's Les Gastres, in spite of the fact that, even in the first edition of his Regne Animal (1817), 

 the latter author adopted Spinaohia as the name of the subgenus which Fleming (British Animals, 1828) raised to a generic rank. 



'■ Sometimes 13, according to Heinoke; sometimes 17, according to Day. 



^ Sometimes 5, according to Lilljbborg. 



'' Sometimes 11, according to Krby'er. 



' 25'6 — 2 1 '5 % of the length of the body, according to our measurements of specimens between 53 and 172 mm. long. 



