i.vconi.N-*;. 13 



Lycodes vahlii Rciuliardt. 



T:ib. 1, Hij;. 2.1, 1), r S: Tab. II, Fij;. i a, b. 

 Kijj. I & 2 ill text. 



1831. Lycodes Valilii Reinharclt, Overs. Kgl. D. Vidensk. Selsk. Forh. 1830—31, p. 74. 



1835. L. Vahlii Reinhardt, Overs. Kgl. D. Vidensk. Selsk. Forh. 1834—35, p. 77. 



1838. /.. Vahlii Reinhardt, Kgl. D. Vidensk. vSelsk. Skr. VII, p. 153, Tab. 5. 



1866. L. gracilis M. Sars, Forh. \'idensk. Selsk. Chria. 1866, p. 40, PI. i. Fig. 1—3. 



1875. L. gracilis Collett, Norges Fiske; TilUegsh. til Forh. Vidensk. Selsk. Chria. 1874, p. 100. 



1880. L. Vahlii Liilken, \'iden.sk. Medd. Naturh. Foren. Kbhvn., p. jri. 



1880. L. lugubris Liitken, ibid. p. 315. 



1891. L. rossii Lilljeborg (nee iMalnigrenl, Sveriges och Norges Fiskar, III, p. 785. 



1895. L. Valilii .Sniitt, Skandinaviens Fiskar, II, p. 613 (partini). 



1898. L. gracilis Liitken, The Danish Ingolf Expedition, II, i, p. 22. 



1899. ^- gracilis Collett, Vidensk. Selsk. Skr. Chria. No. 6, PI. I— III. 



1901. L. Vahlii forma gracilis Sniitt, Bih. K. Sv. \'et.-Akad. Handl. Bd. 27, Afd. I\', Xo. 4, p. 22. 

 1901. L. vahlii Jensen, Vidensk. ]\Iedd. Natnrh. Foren. Kbhvn. p. 202 & p. 212. 



The height over the anus amounts in general to 8—11% of the total length. 

 The length of the head in the males is 19,6 — 23,8%, in the females 18,8 — 21,4",, of the 

 total length. The tail is considerably longer than the head and trunk together, the 

 distance from the snout to the anus being in males 37,8— 42,3 "o, iu females 36,5 — 

 41,7 "o of the total length. The young have 8—10 broad, dark cross-bands over the 

 body; these bands in the adults either disappear entirely or dissolve into ring-shaped 

 stripes and irregular spots; on the anterior corner of the dorsal fin is almost always a 

 black-brown patch, behind which there often is one or two more dark spots. Scales 

 beo-in to appear at a total length of ca. 60 nun.; at a length of ca. 100 mm. the tail and 

 the trunk are completely covered by scales, as also the base of the unpaired fins. 

 Lateral line ventral. Pyloric appendages 2. The length reaches 520 mm. 



D. 95—117. A. 84 -98. P. 17 — 20. Vert. 98 — 116. 



Distribution. Southerly West-Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia; 30—300 fathoms. 



L.vahlii typica: nia.ximuin length 520 mm. D. 117— 113; A. 98— 90; P. 20— 19. VerL 116— 112. Greenland. 



- lugubris: maximum length 355 mm. D. 105—103; A. 90; P. 19—18 (17). Vert. 105. Iceland. 



— gracilis: maximum length i96nini. ') D. 97— 95; A. 86— 84; P. (19) 18— 17. Vert. 100- 98. 



Scandinavia. 



Remarks on the Synonymy. 



In 1S66 a Lycodes. taken in the Christiania Fjord, was described by M. Sars under the name L. gracilis. It was a 

 very young specimen, only 43 mm. lonj;, characterised by 10 saddle shaped cross-bands on a whitish background. The species 

 was not rediscovered until in 18S8, when Conser\ator Storm took 4 specimens, 97-137 mm. long, in Trondhjem Fjord; a fifth, 

 very small individual was taken in the same fjord 6 years later. Lastly, during some of the practical fisheries investigations 



') Cf. however .Xppendix, p. 2i. 



