THE GREY GURNARD. 179 



dorsal ridge are strongly serrated) wliich in old specimens, together 

 with the dorsal ridge, become crenated,* allowing the finger to pass as 

 easily from tail to head as in the contrary direction ; under jaw 

 shortest ; teeth small and fine in each jaw and on front of the vomer ; 

 first dorsal fin commencing a little behind the base of the pectorals, 

 first ray shorter than the second ; second and third rays longer and 

 stouter than the rest ; second dorsal fin commencing at a short dis- 

 tance from the termination of the first, and ending in a line over the 

 last anal ray ; first rays longer than the succeeding ones ; anal fin 

 corresponding nearly with the second dorsal ; pectoral and ventral 

 fins of equal length not reaching to the vent; three detached rays 

 under the base of the pectorals, of which the last is the longest. — 

 Number of fin rays — 



1st D. 8 ; 2d D. 20; P. 9 ; V. 6 ; A. 19 i C. 11 ; air-bladder bilobed. 



This species is one of the most common on the east coast 

 of Scotland. " It is taken along the line of our southern 

 coast generally ; vip the eastern coast going northwards, on 

 the coast of Scotland, and at the Orkney Islands ; it is found 

 also in the Baltic, and on the west coast of Norway ; it oc- 

 curs in Ireland in all the localities which produce the red 

 gurnard, namely from Waterford in the south, up the east- 

 ern coast to Londonderry in the north,'" -f- 



It occurs frequently in the Firth of Forth during the 

 summer months, seldom found higher up the estuary than 

 a little above Quecnsferr3% Off Burntisland it is occasion- 

 ally taken, but not in such numbers as at the mouth of the 

 Firth. Pennant states, " that it sometimes attains the length 

 of two feet and a half ;*" although one half that size is con- 



•Mr Jenyns, in his Manual of British Vertebrate Animals, page 342, states, 

 that the lateral line is sharply serrated. Mr Yarrell says the lateral line 

 is strongly marked with a sharp crest. Dr Fleming in his work, page 215, 

 mentions, that the lateral line and dorsal ridge are serrated. This diver- 

 sity of opinions will be accounted for in the sequel, when speaking of the 

 characters at different ages of the fish. 



+ Yarrell's British Fishes. 



m2 



