1038 



SCANniXAVIAX KISHF.S. 



(Jnni/er ini/t/aris (Vothjre romtnun), Cuv., liegn. Anitn., oil. I. 

 toiii. II, p. 231; Yakp... Ilist. lirit. Fish., ed. I. vol. II, 

 p. .304; ScHi.Hci. ill SiEi!.. Fun Jcijwii., PifC. p. 25'.t; 

 Bi.Kii, All. Irhtk. Ind. Or., toin. IV, p. 26, tab. CXLIX 

 (Mvr. V), fig. 2; Gthr, Cat. Brit. Mhs.. Fish., vol. VIII, 

 p. 38; Coll., Forli. Vid. SeUk. Cliniia 1874, Tilla>gsh., 

 p. i;i;i; 1879, No. 1. p. 99; Dabeste, Arch. Zoo). Exper., 

 toni. IV, p. 227; WlNTH., NaUirh. Titiskr. Kbhvn, ser. 3, 

 vol. XII. p. .il; .MoR., Hist. Nat. I'oiss. Fr., foni. Ill, p. 

 565 ( + var. iii,jei\ p. 566); Mela, Vert. Fenn.. p. 359, tab. 

 X: Mob., Hckh, Fisch. Osts., p. 148; Day, Fi.^h. Gt. Brit., 

 Intl., vol. II. p. 250, tab. CXLII, fig. 2; Stokm, Vid. Sels. 

 Skr., TroTidhj., 1883, p. 41; Lill.i., Sc, Nonj. Fna. Fisk:. 

 vol. Ill, p. 410; Cai:., Pnnlr. Fiuk Medit., vol. II. p. 541. 



Ci'ixjriis h'Hcophaiis. Richards., Ichlli. Vo;/. Ereb.. Terr.. \>. 

 108. 



Conycr occidentalis. Hek., N. Yuri- Fna. pt. l\ . Fish., p. 

 314, tab. LIII, fig. 172. 



Conger Linnei. Malm, 6'i(/.?. Boh. Fna. p. 591. 



FoiiiKL' larvales et degtnerat;x>: 

 Leptocephaliis, Gronov., Zoophyl., fnec. I (1763), p. 135, No. 



410, tab. XIII, fig. 3; Morris, Penn., Brit. ZooL, ed. 1776, 



vol. Ill, p. 139, tab. XXV, No. 67. 

 Leptocephaliis Morrisii, Gll., Syst. Nat. Lni.. c-d. XIII. tnm. I. 



p. 1150; Yarr.. Brit. Fish., ed. 2, vol. II, p. 311; Kp, 



Cat. Apod. Fish.. Brit. Mas., p. 147; Couch, Hist. Fish. 



Brit. Isl.. vol. IV, p. 348, tab. CCXXXVIII. fig. 2; Gthr, 



Cat. Brit. Mas.. Fish., vol. VIII. p. 139; MoR.. Hist. Nat. 



Poi.os. Fr., torn. Ill, p. 567. 

 Helmictis punctatus, Raf., Lnd. Ittio!. Sic. p. 62. tab. II. 



fig. 3; Kp. (Leptocephaliis), 1. c. p. 148, tab. XVII. fig. 



8 — sec. MoR. 

 Leptocephaliis 6'pal/ait:ani, Klsso, Ear. Mir., torn. Ill, p. 



205; Kp., 1. c, tab. XVII, fig. 7 — sec. Gthr. 

 Leptocephaliis Gtissonii, Cocco, Isis 1831. p. 1340 — sec. 



Kp et Gthr. 

 Leptocephaliis candiilissimns, Costa, Fna Reg. Nap.. Pesc, 



MalHCott., Apod., tab. XX — sec. Kp., (?) sec. Gthr. 

 Leptocephaliis incequalis, Facoiola, Atti. Soc. Tosc. Sc. Nat., 



vol. VI, fasc. 1; Natural. Sicil., Anno XII (1893), p. 194. 



Obs. Dareste proposed (1. c.) to unite with this species, or 

 at least to regard as a variety thereof, the East Indian and East 

 African Conger marginntiis, Val., Gthr = Conger Noordzieki, Blke, 

 and judging from the variability of the preceding species, there would 

 seem to be good reasons for this opinion. But apart from the more 

 elongated (shallower) form of the body, the higher dorsal fin, and 

 the black-spotted pectoral fins, characters of Conger marginatiis that 

 Bleekek in particular laid stress upon, we find a remarkable difference 

 ill the shorter trunk of the last-mentioned species — the beginning of 

 the anal fin being separated from the tip of the snout by a distance 

 of aliout 36 % of the length of the body — and in the commencement 

 of the dorsal fin being still more advanced — the length of the head 

 measuring about 79 or 80 % of the distance between the dorsal tin 

 and the tip of the snout. In these respects the species is conse- 

 quently still farther removed from the preceding genus than Conger niger. 



The Conger, in Sweden known as the Hafsal (Sea- 

 Eel) or sometitnes, in BohiislSn, a8 the Konger-al, so 

 closely resembles the Common l^el in the form of the 

 body that no long description is necessary. The mo.st 

 prominent differences from the preceding species are 



the grcati'f extension in a forward direction of the 

 dorsal fin. thr more pointed tail, the longer snout, and 

 the larger, more oval eves. .\s a rule too the Conger 

 is distinguished by its far more con.siderable size. In 

 Scandinavian waters it is, we may almost say, rare to 

 find Congers so small that they might be mistaken for 

 CoiuuKjii Eels, tliougii KiiovEK mentions a specimen 

 34 cm. long. The maximum length whicii can be 

 assigned witli certainty to the Conger is about 2' , m. 

 Day mentions a specimen of this length and weighing 

 .58 kilo. Tiie largest specimen Collett had heard of 

 from the Norwegian coast was taken at Farsund in 

 September, 1883, measured nearly 23 dm., and weighed 

 2.5 kilo. The greatest depth of the body in sniali 

 Congers is about .5 %, in large ones about 10 or 11%, 

 of the length of the body, except in the case of fe- 

 males with belh" monstrously distended by the tumid 

 ovaries. 



The langtli (if the head commonly varies between 

 about lo\, and 15\., % (sometimes as nuich as \1 %) 

 of that (if the body. Its form is the same as in the 

 preceding species, witii the above-mentioned exception 

 that the snout is longer, and the tij) of the snout 

 usually projects beyond that of the lower jaw, though 

 this is by no means constant, lioth jaws being some- 

 times of equal length. The eyes are oval, some- 

 times so distincth" that The vertical diameter is only 

 ' J or even '/g of the horizontal, sometimes, in old 

 specimens, less perceptibly. During the growth of the 

 Conger from a length of 'i^j, to one of IG dm. the 

 longitudinal diameter of the eyes varies between 19 

 and 11 % of the length of the head. The length of 

 the snout varies between 25 (25^ ^, according to Kro- 

 yer) and 28 %, and the postorbital length is about ^ 3 

 (66 — 64 %), of the length of the head. The interorbital 

 width increases in these Congers from aljout 15 to 24 % 

 of the length of the head, the longitudinal diameter of 

 the eyes, which in young Congers is greater than this 

 width, lieing in the old only about half thereof, and 

 their vertical diameter decreasing during these altera- 

 tions of growth from about ^/^ to ^/, or even approach- 

 ing ' 3 of the same. The jiosterior nostril on each side 

 is a longitudinal slit in front of the anterior u|)per 

 corner of the eye, in young specimens measuring only 

 about "12 of the longitudinal diameter of the eyes, in 

 old up to about V.i of the same and separated from 

 the eye by a distance about equal to its own length. 

 The anterior nostrils are set here too one on each side 



