952 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



sionallv so hmg tli;it it joins the caudal fin, as in the 

 Shcattrsh. 



The Herring t;unil_v is ridi in forms. Even after 

 the sifting to w'nieh tliey have l)een subjected by Valen- 

 ciennes", Guntiiek'', and Bleekeh', there remain about 

 200 named species, a large number of which have only 

 a dubious claim to that rank. The family consists 

 maiidv of salt-water fishes, l)ut many species are ana- 

 droinous, and some are true fresh-water forms. It is 

 in the temperate and frigid seas of the Northern Hemi- 

 sphere that the family has attracted most attention and 

 played the most important part in the economy of man; 

 but gregariousness is a trait common to the whole fa- 

 mily and shared by its members in the Southern He- 

 misphere. Great shoals of certain species'' rove in the 

 South Pacific, along the coasts of New Zealand and 

 Australia, as the common Herring does in our latitudes. 

 But owing to the less advanced development of indus- 

 trial enterprise in those southern regions the fisheries 

 have not vet attained such dimensions as in the earlier 

 seats of civilization. 



To tlie ancient Greeks and Romans the Clupeoid 

 family was by no means unknown, though the Herring 

 itself does not occur in the Mediterranean ; and even in 

 the time of Aristophanes they had learnt to cure their 

 take of Herrings (principally Anchovies and Sardines) 

 bj' salting. Halec originally meant hrine. Which spe- 

 cies they designated by their names, it is, however, 

 difficult to determine. Among the modern Greeks Tlnissa 

 is the name applied to the Mediterranean Clitpea (Alosa) 

 aiirifa. Cliakls (in Aristotle a fish that roved in shoals) 

 was, according to Callimachus, the same species as 

 Trichis, and Aristotle gives' Memhras, Triclns^, and 

 Trichias as different ages of the same species, probably 

 tiie Sliad. The Anchovv was known by Aristotle as 

 Eiikruiihis, by .Elian as Eiif/r(ii(Us, Enkrasicholus, and 

 Lycostomits. Chtpea was a classical Latin name. Alosa 

 {(llama, the Germanic Alse) occurs first in Ausonr'S. 



(_)f the four sidtfaniilics under wiiich the C'luiieoids, 

 after tiie above-mentioned reductions in the number of 



the species, naturally fall, only two are repi'esented in 

 the Scandinavian fauna, by the following species of 

 more or less common occurrence: 



I: Length of the upper jaw from the 

 tip of the snout less than *,,, of 

 that of the head; intermaxillaries 

 shorter than the maxillaries^; ven- 

 tral margin carinated'' — Subfa- 

 mily (Jliipntur. 



A: Postorbital length of the head 

 less than Y^ of the distance be- 

 tween the dorsal fin and the tip 

 ofthe snout. —Subgenus Clupea. 

 a: Length of the base of the 

 anal fin less than ' ', of the 

 distance between the ventral 

 fins and the tip of the snout Clupea liarengus. 

 h: Length of the base of the 

 anal fin more than ', , of the 

 distance between the ventral 

 fins and the tip ofthe snout Clupea spraltus. 

 B: Postorbital length of the head* 

 more than ' ,, of the distance 

 between the dorsal fin and the 

 tip of the snout. — Subgenus 

 Alosa. 



a: Least depth of tlic tail 

 more than ■*/- of the length 



of the maxillaries Clupea pilchanlus. 



b: Least depth of the tail less 

 than Vj of the length of 



the maxillaries Clupea alosa. 



a: Gill-rakers on the first 

 branchial arch about40 — 

 60: var. Clupea finta. 

 ji: Gill-rakers on the first 

 branchial arch about 60 — 

 120: var. Clupea alosa. 

 II: Length ofthe upper jaw from the 

 tip of the snout more than '/, of 

 the length of the head. — Sub- 

 family Eugraulhur - Stoh'jihorus eiuTasicholus. 



Several indications, as for example the more or less 

 advanced position of the ventral fins and the gradual 

 prolongation of the anal fin, suggest tliat in the Clupe- 

 oid family the course of development has been from 

 the small-mouthed Herrings to the large-mouthed An- 

 (diovies. But our materials are not sufficient to enable 

 us to pass a, decisive opinion on this point. 



" Cuv., Val., Hist. Nat. Poisn., vol. XIX. 



' Cat. Brit. Mns.. Fish., vol. VIL 



' Alias Ichtlii/ologiifie des Indes Orientales Neerlandaises, tome VI. 



■* Clupea sarjax, Clupea sundaica, Spratelloidef! delicahdus. 



' De Anim. Hist., lib. VI, onp. 1.1. 



^ From iiQli, hair, an Mllnsion to Xhn li;iir-lil;c bones in the flesh. 



? Intermaxillaries longer than the maxillaries in the subfamily Dorosomalina: (Chatoessina;). 



* Ventral margin not carinated in the snbfamily TJassumieriiiia'. 



' .\t all events when measured obliquely from llic middle of the posterior orbital ninrgin to the lower posterior angle of the operculum. 



