LYCODIN^. 



Of the genus I.ycodoiius onl\- two species are present from the region here considered: I., 

 flagellicauda Jensen which inhabits the polar depths from Spitsbergen down to Iceland and the Fseroe 

 Channel, and L. ophidJiim Jensen of which only a young specimen from the depths of the Atlantic 

 Ocean (south from Iceland) has been found. Cf. for the rest, the synoptical table. 



Biology. 



The Lycodiiice are bottom-fishes which swim by vigorous movements of their strong tail. As the 

 fishing apparatus often brings them up alive to the surface, even from great depths, one can well 

 believe that thev are tenacious of life. Lycodes /rigidus, for example, which is essentially a deep 

 water fish, was kept alive during the Norwegian North-Atlantic Expedition by being placed in some 

 water in a tub; according to Collett, they generally remained at rest in a half coiled-up condition, 

 somewhat like Zoarces viviparits. During the .Michael Sars» expedition of 1902 I placed two Lycodes 

 esmarkii, taken from 275 fathoms depths, in a tub with water and they remained alive several hours; 

 other individuals of the same species showed themselves extremely acti\e on being preserved and 

 remained living for a long time. 



According to the observations of Collett, myself and others, the Lycudince live chiefly on 

 Crustacea: copepods ^Crt/rtw/z.T^, cumacece, isopods, amphipods and decapods (Zf/^^f?/)^^, /^7/«^«(?rf(?rrt etc.). 

 In the alimentary canal of the following species onl\- the remains of Crustacea were found: Lycodes 

 t'oss!\ L. reticulatits^ L. semhiiidns^ L:agiiostns and Lycodoiiiis flagellicauda. Lycodes vahlii and L^ycen- 

 cltelys sarsii feed both on Crustacea and small bivalves. Lycodes frigidns according to Collett, lives 

 chiefly on Crustacea, but he has also found in them the remains of a cephalopod; during the Ingolf 

 Expedition a Gonatits was found in one, and I ha\-e taken from their stomachs the beaks of ink-fish 

 and remains of fishes. Collett found fish remains in Lycodes liitkenn. Lycodes endipleurostictus 

 feeds on Crustacea, but one just as frequently finds in them the tubes of tubicolous wonns, and once 

 I have taken a Priapiilus from its stomach. Lycodes esmarkii seems to feed exclusively' on echinoderms, 

 especiallv ophiuroids, jiartly also on Antedon and Echinus ; both Collett and I m^'self have foimd 

 their stomachs and intestines crammed full of broken skeletons of these animals. 



The LvcodiiuE are not despised either by other fishes. At West Greenland they are found not 

 rarely in the stomachs of the (Greenland shark > (Somniosus ^nicrocephalus)., and I have once taken 

 a Lycodes (indeterminable) from the stomach of a cod. 



Concerning the beginning of the spawning period but little is known. Collett says that 

 Lycodes esmarkii spawns in the early winter months at Finmark, and that L. vahlii (= L. gracilis) spawns 

 during July — October in the Skagerak; I have found the last named species with ripe roe in the 

 beginning of July (Iceland). In the vcold area» (the Polar Depths) the breeding time ma)- begin at 

 the end of August, as I have observed the ripe roe at that time in Lycodes frigidns and L. 

 etidiplettrostictiis. 



The LycodincB are oviparous. The eggs are of considerable size and consequently relatively 

 few in number. Collett has found ovarian eggs in Lycodes esmarkii which were 6 mm. in 



