478 THE OPAH. 



iliat have attained seventeen inches in length. Swedish 

 ichthyologists tell us the Scad is seldom met with other- 

 wise than alone, or nearly so ; but Kroyer says that, 

 some years ago, a Danish fisherman, to his own know- 

 ledge, captured so many one autumn, that they were 

 sold by the score. " A sufficient proof," the Professor 

 adds, " that they do not, as assei'ted, always appear singly 

 in the Catteorat.'' 



Of the breediuor habits of this fish, little or nothino- is 

 known in Sweden ; but Kroyer tells us he has every reason 

 to believe it spawns at the end of May or beginning of 

 June, that is, about the same time as the Common 

 Mackerel, lie states, further, that from the young of 

 the Scad being not unfrequently captured in Swedish 

 and Danish waters during the autumn, at which time they 

 are from four to five inches in length, taken in connection 

 with the period of the year when the parent fish carry 

 on their " Lek," no other conclusion can be come to 

 than that it deposits its roe in the Cattegat. The flesh 

 of the Scad, which somewhat resembles tiiat of the 

 Mackerel, but is drier and more bony, is in no great 

 repute in Scandinavia as an article of food. 



The Opah, or King-fish [Glans-Fisk, i.e. shining fish, 

 Sw. ; Laxe-Stijrje, Norw^ ; Lampris gultatus, Retz.), whose 

 proper habitat is believed to be the European portion of 

 the Atlantic, especially its more northern parts, is very 

 rare in the Scandinavian seas ; it has, nevertheless, been 

 taken, though very sparingly, along the whole line of coast 

 from the Sound to near the North Cape, which would seem 

 to be about its limits to the northward and eastw^ard. It 

 has been long known in Norway, Peder Claussen, who 

 flourished more than two centuries ago, having mentioned 

 it as frequenting all the northern and western coasts of 

 that country. None of the specimens of this fish that 

 have hitherto been captured in the Scandinavian waters 



