786 



SCANDIXAVIAX FiSIIES. 



to Mela, occurs, tliough seldom, in tlie vicinity of 

 Kuopio. 



The Asp, as we have mentioned, is a tish of marked 

 predatory habits, resorting to vegetable food oidy by 

 accident, or when reduced by necessity. It is thei-e- 

 fore lacking in the sociability of our otiier ( 'yjjrinoids, 

 a feeling it evinces only in the spawning-season and 

 perhaps during its winter sleep. "His name" (Germ. 

 Proppe, Lat. rapax'), writes Gesxer, "is derived from 

 his voracity, for he ranges the waters like a formidable 

 pirate, to other fishes a no less dangerous, but rather a 

 more flestructive foe than the Sheattish or the Pike. 

 In headlong chase of his flying victims, which in terror 

 leap on dry land, he sometimes runs ashore himself." 

 Bleak and Smelt are its commonest prey; but it does 

 not slirink from assailing larger fish or even water- 

 rats, nor does it disdain smaller and lower animals, 

 such as worms, niollusks, and the like. It is not very 

 tenacious of life, dying soon on dry land. Its favourite 

 iiaunts are clear lakes or gentle streams with clean, 

 sandy or gravelly bottom. As long as the water is 

 clear, it cunningly avoids all snares, and is difficult to 

 take with net or seine; but a ^linnow set on a trolling 

 hook and cast enticingly before its nose is too tempting 

 a bait to be resisted. When the water is thick, it may 

 be more easily netted. Such are its habits in summer; 

 but they assume a different aspect under the influence 

 of sexual excitement. 



The spawning-season of the Asp begins early in 

 spring, soon after the breaking up of the ice, in Swe- 

 <len in April or ^lay. Tiie males are tlien marked by 

 the usual dermal eruption of small round tubercles on 



the head, the pectoral tins, and tlie dorsal scales back 

 to the tail. The fish assemble in shoals, which ascend 

 the rivers, or proceed to shallow parts of the lakes, 

 where the roe is attached to stones or weeds, or simply 

 deposited on the bottom. A middle-sized female con- 

 tains, according to Benecke, 80,000 — 100,000 eggs. 

 The large gravid female of which we give a figure, 

 measured 75 cm. from the tip of the snout to the end 

 of the caudal lobes, and when taken off Stockholm on 

 the 22nd of April, 1886, iiad nearly the whole of the 

 abdominal cavitv under the air-bladder and forward to 

 the diaphragm filled ])y the two ovaries with their three 

 or four lobes. The eggs were about 1" ^ mm. in dia- 

 meter, and their number was computed to be about 

 300,000. ()f the growth of the fry NdUBACK states" 

 that during the first year the}' attain a length of 9 cm., 

 and LiLLJEROKG assumes specimens 15 cm. long, taken 

 at the beginning of May, to be one year old. 



The flesh of t!ie Asp is white and fat, but Iiony 

 and difficult of digestion. It shows a tendency in \)vo- 

 cess of boiling to separate into flakes (the muscular 

 sections, myomeres), which may be obviated, however, 

 by putting it on the fire in cold water. Large and 

 fleshy as the fish is, it is one of the niost important 

 Cyprinoids, and the head is considered a delicacy by 

 many. Except during the spawning-season, however, 

 no large catches of Asp are made in Sweden. Solitary 

 specimens appear in the fishmarkets of Stockholm about 

 Christmas; but the true season for Asp is from Febru- 

 ary to June. The Asp is taken chiefly in nets or traps. 

 Still it affords good sport to the angler, who should pre- 

 fer a l)ait of live fish, thouah worms may also be used. 



Genus LEUCASPIUS'. 



Scales middle-sized and deciduous. Lateral Uhc iiicoiiiplrfe. Lotrcr jaic distincthi projecting, with the point fittinm 

 into a shallow indentation at the tip of the snout. Lobes of the caudal Jin pointed. Length of the base of the 

 ancd Jin more tha)i. l!) % of the distance between this fn and the tip of the snout, and more than V j^ times the 

 least depth of the tail. Beginning of the dorsal fin situated at the middle of the body or farther back, and the 

 distance bettveen it and the tip of the snout more than 86 % of that between the anal fin and the same point. 



An intrn-mediate form between Asjiius and Albur- 

 nus, Leucaspius is nearly allied to the following sub- 

 family. One of the most uinnistakable signs of this is 



the relative position of the dorsal fin to tlie anal. In 

 none of the preceding Leuciscines — except in young ■ 

 males of I'hoxinus — have we found the distance between ;■ 



" Handl. Fiskev., Figkafc. p. 43! 

 ' HcKL, Kn., 1. c. p. 145. 



