1084 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



Scotch coast, oft' Baiift'sliii-e (Flemixg and Day). In tlie 

 Mediterranean, according to Giglioli", it is not uncom- 

 mon off Nice, Genoa, and Palermo; but during 21 years 

 Costa could only procure 16 sjjecinieiis from the Bay 

 of Na]>les. On the east coa.st of North America it is 

 found from Cape Cod northwards (Jordan and Gilbert); 

 i)ut l'\\i5Hi('iL's does not include it among the fishes of 

 (ireenland. According to Sciileoel it is rare off South- 

 ern -lapan, i)ut cominon to the north, especially in 

 autumn, when it pursues the Hcrritig-shoals to the 

 ver\' heads of the inlets. 



The life and habits of the Northern Chimai'ra are 

 otherwise little known. Its intestinal canal has been 

 found to contain the remains of fishes', testaceans, crus- 

 taceans, Echinoderms, and worms. A few fi'agments of 

 seaweed among the contents have, no doubt, been s\va,llowed 

 accidentally with the food. The dentition of the mouth is 

 evidently intended both to cut up fiesh and crush shells. 

 The spawning-season of this fish is unknown; but in the 

 month of February, according to Lilljeborg, each ovi- 

 duct of a female nearly 1 m. long contained in the uterine 

 dilatation an egg witii tlie parchment-like shell almost 

 fully developed and 122 mm. long. Esmark received 

 from Christiania Fjord another egg, which has been 

 described by Collett. It was of a lustrous brown, but 

 empty, and had probably been washed ashore. The thick 

 end was cylindrical", the small end prolongated into a 

 filamentous appendage. The whole egg was longitudi- 

 nally fringed all round with a fin-like membrane'', con- 

 taining rays directed olilifpiely outwards towards the 

 thick end. A similar, though rayless membrane followed 

 the middle of the egg, at right angles to the plane of 

 the former membrane, along the whole of one side and 

 the narrower part of the other. The length of the egg 

 was 163 mm., exclusive of the thread at the small end, 

 which appendage measured 42 mm. Its greatest breadth 

 was 42 mm., exclusive of the fin-like membrane on each 

 side, which was 4 mm. broad. During the English ex- 

 pedition on lioard the Triton a young male A^j^ in. long, 

 which Mpjieared to have just been hatched, was taken, ac- 

 cording to Gunther {Deep Sen Fish., Cliall. Ex|)ed., p. 

 12), at a depth of 505 fathoms. 



Tlie economical imjiortance of the Northern Chinuera 

 cannot be considerable, for as a rule only solitary spe- 

 cimens are met with, and the flesh is worthless as food; 

 but the oil that flows from its liver has been highly 

 esteemed in medicine. "Since olden times'", wrote Holl- 

 berg in 1821, "the islanders of Bohusliin and especially 

 of Norway have appreciated the value of the fat ])repared 

 from the liver of the Chima^ra, as an excellent external 

 remedy for stiffness of the joints, gout, rheumatic pains, 

 glandular swellings, cataract, etc. The fishermen of the 

 noi'tliern island-belt of Bohusliin frequently offer this fat 

 for sale in the stomachs of Ling, for it does not fail to 

 find a ready market either in chemists' shops or among 

 the peasantry. In ;dl likelihood, however, not all this 

 fat is procured from the rare Chima^ra, though it ahvays 

 bears the name of that fish." The oil of the Chiman'a 

 is also used internally, like that of the Ling and Cod, 

 to alleviate weakness and disease of the respiratory or- 

 gans; and it has been especially prized as an internal 

 remedy for the sting of the Weaver. The great oiliness 

 of tlie liver may be seen even in Chimasras that have 

 lieen preserved entire for scores of j'ears in the spirit- 

 jars of museums. On opening their abdominal cavity, 

 oil runs eopiousl}' from the belly. 



The Northern Chima'ra has many names. The 

 nostrils and the invariably visible front teeth, in com- 

 bination with tlie mol>ile snout, give it a certain resem- 

 blance to a grinning monkey, whence the name of simia 

 marina (Jiafsapa). The thread-like tail and the wriggling 

 movements have given rise to the name of hafmus (Sea- 

 mouse). LiNN.T'ius called the species vidmiderfisk (Mon- 

 ster-fish). In Norway it has borne the names of IsfjaJf, 

 Gulhd, Blankhu, Sorotte, Somus, Hamus (the last three 

 = hafmus), Sarcev, Solvfisk, Havkriu/e, Hnvkaft, SpiJ- 

 strceng-Hyse. In the Shetland Islands it is known, ac- 

 cording to Day, as the King of the Herrings and the 

 Babhif-fish. The former name occurs even in Dauben- 

 ton', and is said to be derived partly from the ravages 

 committed by the Chimera among the Herring-shoals, 

 partly from the hooked organ on the forehead of the 

 males, which appendage has been compared to a ci'o^vn. 

 The latter name has the same oi-igin as hafsapa. 



" Espos. intern, di Pesca in Berlino 1880, Sez. Itnl., C.ital., p. 111. 



' One of oiir specimens had Herring-scales in the montli. 



' According to Lilljeborg's description of the egg-shells, wliieli \\:\A nut ijuite reached (heir ftdl development, compared with DOme- 

 ril's figure of an egg probably belonging to the nearly related genus VaUvi-hi/nchus (Hist. Nat. Poiss.. pi. 8, fig. 8), the thick end of these 

 eggs is furnished with two short filamentous appendages. 



'' In the egg described by Dumeril this niendirane was covered with silky hairs. 



*■ In the old Eiicyclopcdie Methodiqne. 



