ANrilllVV. 



99 = 



int's of the skin in the pi-cahdonunal i-egion, answering 

 to the lateral processes of the spiniferous scales; and 

 outside (below) each pelvic bone, just in front of the 

 outermost (first) ray of the ventral tins, lies an extreme- 

 ly tliin, s([naiuoid covering-bone, whicli sends out a 

 wand-sliaped process in the skin, extending about ' ., of 

 the distance up the sides of the body, and corresponding 

 to the ordinary double process that rises at this point 

 in the Herrings (cf. \). 958, tig. 240, c). 



Tlie coloration is essentially the same as in tlie 

 Herrings, but is characterized by a steely longitudinal 

 band on the upper part of the sides, forming a sharp 

 line of demarcation between the back, which gleams 

 chiefly with a greenish lustre, and the lower parts of 

 the sides, which are silvery wliite. On the articular head 

 of the operculum lies a dark, elliptical spot, the length 

 of which is scarcely half the diameter of the eyes. 



The Anchovy's range in the Atlantic coincides with 

 that of the Pilchard". Its true habitat lies in the Mediter- 

 ranean and the neighbouring part of the Atlantic, and 

 liardly extends north of England and Holland, though 

 numerous specimens have been taken in Christiania 

 Fjord, and solitary individuals occur along the Norwe- 

 gian coast up to Bergen. It also roves into the Cat- 

 tegat and the Baltic, probably in the train of the Her- 

 ring and Stroraming, up to the island-belt of Stockholm, 

 where Professor Hjalmar Holmgren took a female An- 

 chovy about 18 cm. long'' on the 15th of August, 18(59. 

 In the south-west of the Baltic it is caught somewhat 

 more frequently — "though rare", wrote Schonevelde 

 in 1624 — off Kiel (MoBius and Heincke) and Trave- 

 iniinde (Lenz). On tlie north coast of Fiinen Feddeksen 

 obtained 7 specimens in the middle of June, and Pe- 

 TERSKN caught 4 at the end of the year 1885. On the 

 north coast of Zealand Kroyer saw two Anchovies. In 

 the Sound north of Sa-ltliolm Winther secured a speci- 

 men IH cm. long in June, 1870. The Royal Museum 

 has received from Baron (tYllenstjerxa a specimen 

 17 cm. long, taken off Kullen in August, 1829. Burman 

 sent two specimens that had been caught in Herring- 

 nets oft' Stromstad in July, 18(52, and the Museum has 

 more recently received through Mr. C. A. Hansson two 

 more from the same locality. MaliM mentions 4 speci- 



mens from BohuslMn. The Anchov}', tliougii rare, is 

 tlnis not to lie reckoned amoi]g tlie rarest fishes of the 

 Cattegat and Skager Rack. In Clnnstiania Fjord it is 

 so common, according to Coli.ett, that it appears every 

 summer, at least in small numbers, at the fish-market 

 of Clu'istia.nia; and in August, 1873, Coelett met with 

 a considerable niunber, both large and small, in the 

 fjoi-d. In Octobei-, 1875, he found several specimens 

 among common Herrings off Christiania, one of them 

 nearly 19 cm. long, another only 68 mm., whence he 

 infers that the Anchovy spawns in those waters. The 

 adeijuacy of this evidence may, however, be questioned, 

 if EuRENBAUiM be correct in his opinion that Anchovies 

 of the latter length may be; in their second year and 

 h;ive passed one winter in the sea. 



That the Anchovy is outside the bounds of its true 

 habitat, or at the northern limit thereof, on the coast 

 of Holland — though it spawns there, and is sometimes 

 extremely plentiful — ap])ears from the great irregularity 

 to be observed in its occurrence. Van Bemmelen re- 

 lates, on Martinet's authority', that in 1765 or 1766 

 fifty fishermen could not secure more than three An- 

 chovies during the whole summer in the Zuyder Zee, 

 though some years before the Zee had been "so full of 

 Anchovies as to be almost unnavigable for smacks." 

 Even so far south as in the English Channel it is far 

 less common, according to Moreau, than in the Medi- 

 terranean. 



From the large gape of the Anchovy and its other 

 resemblances to the Greater Scopelus we may conjecture 

 that its manner of life is also nuich the same, and that 

 it is strictly a pelagic fish-of-])rey. But in cjuest of 

 food and in oi'der to spawn it approaches the coast, 

 and for the former purpose it enters brackish or even 

 fresh \\'ater. It is found both in the Zu}'der Zee and 

 the mouths of the Dut(-h rivers. The Seine it ascends, 

 according to Valenciennes, up to Quillebeuf. It spawns 

 in the Mediterranean, according to Risso, and on the 

 coasts of Holland and Hanover, according to HoffiMAn'' 

 and Ehrenbauji, in spring and early summer, from 

 April till the beginning of July. This seems also to 

 be the case on the English coast, to judge by an ob- 

 servation of Mr. Jackson's (Day), who took Anchovies 



" According to GUnthek (L c.) (he Anchovy is found off Tasiuania and New Zonhnid, in a variety distinguished by a somewhat 

 greater nnraber of rays in the anal fin. 



* The specimen is so greatly damaged that the length of the body cannot be stated exactly. 



' Verh. Haarlem 1754— 9.S, XI, pars 2, p. 2.36. 



'' Verslag van den iStaat der Nederlandsche Zeevisscliereien over lff84 en J8Sh'. 



