278 FISHES OF THE FIRTH OF FORTH. 



Salmo salar.* — The Salmon. 



Specific Characters. — Lower third of the pectorals, as well as the 

 membranes between the three first rays of the ventral fins^ black ; 

 middle ray of the caudal fin not exceeding- half the length of the 

 longest ray in the same fin ; vomerine teeth confined to the anterior 

 extremity. (See Plate XXXII. Fig-. 1.) 



Description. — From a female specimen three feet and a half in 

 length. The whole fish of an elongated oval form ; greatest depth 

 in front of the dorsal fin; head one-fifth of the whole length, cau- 

 dal fin not included ; snout rather sharp ; jaws nearly equal ; pos- 

 terior margin of the gill-cover rounded ; preoperculum rather angu- 

 lar ; lower margin of the operculum directed obliquely upwards and 

 backwards, in a line with the base of the first ray of the dorsal fin. Co- 

 lour of the back and sides, as far as a little above the lateral line, 

 bluish-grey ; below the line silvery-white, occasionally with blue re- 

 flections ; summit of the head dark olive-green ; dorsal and caudal fins 

 dusky black ; ventrals and anal whitish, with the membranes, be- 

 tween the first three rays of the former, tinged with black ; pectorals 

 behind dusk ; the lower third black ; above the lateral line a num- 

 ber of black scattered spots ; below it, in the region of the pectorals, 

 three spots (few individuals exceed six spots below the line) ; oper- 

 culum with a round black spot (occasionally there are three spots). 

 First dorsal fin placed exactly half-way between the point of the upper 

 jaw and the base of the middle caudal rays ; the first ray short and 

 simple, not half the length of the second ray, which is also simijle ; the 

 rest branched ; the third the longest, not quite equalling the length 

 of the base of the fin ; the last two rays of equal height, exactly half 

 the length of the sixth ray. Second dorsal fin adipose, without rays, 

 placed nearer the dorsal fin than to the end of the caudal rays, and 

 situated in a vertical line over the base of the last anal ray. Tail fin 

 lunated, the middle ray not quite half the length of the long-est ray 

 in the same fin. The sixth ray of the anal fin equalling the length 

 of the base of that fin ; the first two rays simple, the rest branched ; 

 the third the longest, the last the shortest, about half the length of 

 the sixth. Ventral fin arising in a vertical line under the base of the 

 last ray but four of the dorsal ; .the first ray simple, the rest branched ; 

 the second the longest, equalling the length of the fifth dorsal ray ; 

 the last ray the shortest, rather more than half the length of the long-- 

 est ray. Pectorals as long as the base of the dorsal fin ; the first 

 ray simple, the rest branched ; the second and third rays the longest, 



" Salmo salar, Cuv., Linn., Yarr., .len., Penn., Flem. 



