738 



SCANDINAVIAN i'lSHES. 



the water inhabited by the fish. It is purest and most 

 handsonu! in lakes with clear water and weedy bottom. 

 In such cases tlie back is olive green, tlie sides are 

 lighter and suffused with lirassy yellow, growing still 

 lighter towards the belly, which is whitish yellow. The 

 top of the liead is of a dni'kcr n]i\c gi'cen than the 

 back; its sides are coloured with m liaiidsonie l)rassy 

 yellow. In muddy lakes witli tiu'bid water the colora- 

 tion is darker, the back and the top of the head being 

 dark green, the suffused colour on the sides hardly 

 visible, and the belly dark yellow. The iris is yellow 

 in specimens that live in clear water; but the darker 

 the colour of the body, the greater the density of the 

 dark dots with which the iris is punctated, and which 

 in these specimens give it a brownisli or pure brown 

 appearance. The colour of tlic tins is no less variable. 

 It conforms to that of the bodj', and thus becomes 

 darker or lighter. Tlie dorsal and caudal fins are 

 generally grayish, and in colour closely resemble the 

 back. Tlie pectoral, ventral, and anal fins are more 

 reddish brown. During youth, '"up to a length of at least 

 42 mm.", the Crucian Carp is marked on the peduncle 

 of the tail with a whitish band and, in front of this, 

 with a black Itand, sharply defined posteriorly" (Malm). 



The common Crucian Carj) may undergo the same 

 change of colour as its nearest congener, the Goldfish. 

 Pallas states that the most handsome specimens of this 

 golden form occur in the desert lakes along the course 

 of the River Ural and in its salt tributary, the Solai- 

 naja. v. Siebold observed a similar, but stunted form 

 (of the following variety) in small, stagnant pieces of 

 water near Braunsberg and KOnigsberg in East Prussia. 

 B: The I'oiid Crucian Carp {Ci/2)rinas f/ihelio, Bl., 

 auctt.) — Plate XXX, fig. 3. 



In Sweden the Pond Crucian Carp is usually of 

 insignificant size. Its ordinary length is about 7 — 12 

 cm., while tlie largest specimen EkstrOm saw measured 

 nearly 2 dm. In 183.5 Fries took a specimen 23 cm. 

 long at Morlanda (Bohusliin); and Malm mentions the 

 capture of a female 34 cm. long in tlie pond at tlie 

 park of the (rothenburg Horticultural Society. 



The body of this variety, as compared with that 

 of the preceding one, is moi-e elongated, less compressed 

 in front, and shallower. The greatest depth, which lies 

 somewhat nearer to the head than in the Lake Crucian 



Carp, is less than half (about ^ ^) of the length of the 

 body to the base of the caudal fin, or about ' 3 of the 

 length to the end of the said fin. The greatest thick- 

 ness is more than '3 of the greatest depth. 



The shape of the back is the same as in the com- 

 mon Crucian Carp. Tlie dorsal profile runs in a re- 

 gular and not very higli arch, without any angle at 

 the beginning of the dorsal fin, and is in general less 

 sti'ongly depressed between the end of the dorsal fin 

 and the beginning of the caudal fin than in the pre- 

 ceding variety. The elevation at the very tip of the 

 tail (the urostyle), on the other hand, is sometimes 

 more marked in the Pond Crucian Carp. The belly 

 from the isthmus to the ventral fins is convex, seldom 

 flat as in the ])receding variety, and between the ventral 

 and anal fins compressed, almost carinated. The curve 

 of the ventral profile is nearly equal to or somewhat 

 sharper than that of the dorsal, whereas in the common 

 Crucian Carp the former is more gradual tlian the 

 latter. From the anal to the caudal fin the dejiression 

 is more distinct. The tail is deep and short, though 

 longer than in the preceding variety, the distance be- 

 tween the anal fin and the caudal fin being there al- 

 most exactly half the dejith of the body at the end of 

 the former fin, but here "/g thereof. 



The head is apparently lai'ger — whicii is always 

 the case when the fish acquires a more elongated form 

 — l)ut its relative length is really the same as in the 

 Lake Crucian Carp, varjing between about 27 % (in 

 young specimens) and about 22 % (in old) of the length 

 of the body. Its breadth, however, measui'ed across 

 the gill-covers, is greater in proportion to tlie breadth 

 of the trunk here than in the preceding variety. Seen 

 in profile, tlie head also appears shoi'ter and more ob- 

 tuse than in the latter. The forehead is somewhat 

 I)roader and less convex. The snout is blunter, and 

 the cleft of tiie mouth ascends more sharply, the lower 

 jaw closing tlie mouth like a lid, and the angle formed 

 by the lo^ver jaw at its articulation Ijeing thus rendered 

 more distinct. The pharyngeal teeth in number and • 

 form exactly resemble those of the Lake Crucian Carp. 

 The opercula are distinguished by their being more or 

 less convex, whereas in the preceding variety they are 

 almost flat. The branchial arches, the branchiostegal 

 membranes, and the eyes, both in form and position. 



" Eveu at a length of 81 mm. this marking is still present in the specimens preserved in spirits in the Rciyal Museum. That it niaj' 

 be even longer persistent in the more elongated varieties of this species, appears from figs. 5 and 6 in Siebold's SitssicasserMche M^itteleuropas. 



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