37 



Nordhavs - Ex))C'(litionens Individer havde tblgende 

 Straaleautal : 



1 D. 8: 2 D. lil; A. lb. Spitsbergen 1878. 



1 - 8: 2 - 20; - 15. ,Ian Mayen 1877. 



1 - 8; 2 - 20; - 15. Jan Mayen 1877. 



Iste Dorsal har saaledes 8 eller 9. sjelden 7 Straa- 

 ler; af disse er den tbrste altid klovet til Grunden. et 

 Forhold, der er ganske nia'rkeligt, og som jeg ikke hidtil 

 har fundet omtalt. De ovrige ere alle enkelte. 2den Dor- 

 sal, der tæller 18 — 20. sjelden 17 Straaler. er højere, end 

 Iste Dorsal; omtrent den 6te Htraale er den længste. Alle 

 Straaler ere her enkelte. Analen, der har 13 — 15, eller 

 hos enkelte Individer 16 Straaler, har omtrent den 8de 

 Straale længst. 



Pectoralerne have alle noget fri Sjiidser. især de ne- 

 derste, der tillige, som det er Regelen hos de cottoide Fiske, 

 ere noget ibrtykkede ; den 7de eller 8de Straale fra neden 

 a f er den bengste. Candalen er tydeligt emargineret. med 

 afrundede Hjorner. 



Til Kroyers og Malmgreus detaillerede Beskrivelser 

 af Arten kan yderligere føjes, at der. livad allerede af Es- 

 nuirk er Ijennerket, hos uskadte Individer lindes 3 særdeles 

 tine Hndtrevler paa. Hovedet. Den største af disse sidder 

 ovenfor Øjets bagre Eand, og er Hadtrykt, samt haandfor- 

 mig fryndset i Randen; de ovrige ere enkelte, korte Hnd- 

 trevler. Alle ere san-deles løstsiddende, og gaa tabte ved 

 den mindste Berøring, hvorfor de i Regelen kun tindes hos 

 forlioldsvis særdeles faa a f de i Musæerne opbevarede In- 

 divider. 



Medens fremdeles Bundfarven hos Individet fra Spits- 

 bergen var temmelig lys, næsten hvidagtig, og viste de re- 

 gulære 4 Tverpletter over Ryggen sa'rdeles tydeligt, vare 

 de i 1878 ved Jan Mayen erholdte Individer oventil saa 

 rigeligt forsynede med brunsorte Smaapletter og Streger, 

 at Bundfarven var næsten ganske skjult, og Tverpletterne 

 kun utydeligt markerede. Dette tør maaske antages at 

 staa i Forbindelse med de Bnndtbrholde, under hvilke In- 

 dividerne levede; ved Jan Mayen bestod Bunden af vul- 

 ■ kansk sort Mudder, hovedsagelig af Lava; ved Spitsbergen 

 var der Lerbund. 



Udbredelse. 1. Jiaviafni< hører til de i den aretiske 

 Zone hyppigt optrædende Arter, og gaar (tilligemed Cottus 

 quadricornis) sandsynligvis længere mod Nord. end nogeu 

 anden af de hidtil kjendte Cottoider. Fra (Irønland er 

 den oftere nedsendt til Musæet i Kjøbenhavn; i Vest- 

 Grønland er den af den engelske Nordpol-Exped. (1875 — 76) 

 fundet at være en af de almindeligste Fiske niellem 80 og 

 82" N. B., og gydefærdige Individer faudtes her i August. 

 I Fjordene L Øst-Grønlaud er den af Germania- og Hansa- 

 Expeditionen i 1869 fundet i 2 smaa Individer under 

 75" N. B. 



I et temmelig stort An tal er den ■ fremdeles indsamlet 

 under de svenske Polar-Expeditioner 1861 — 72 ved Spits- 

 bergen, hvor den neppe har manglet paa noget uuder- 



Number of tin-rays in examples obtained on the North 

 Atlantic Expedition : — 



1 D. 8; 2D. 19; A. 15. Spitzbergen 1878. 



1 - 8; 2 - 20; - 15. Jan Mayen 1877. 



1 - 8; 2 - 20; - 15. Jan Mayen 1877. 



The first dorsal has accordingly, as a rule. 8 or 9 

 rays, rarely 7 ; the first ray is invariably furcate to the 

 base, a feature truly remarkable, and whic-li I have not 

 met with mentioned in any description of the species; the 

 rest are all simple. In the 2ud dorsal, the number of 

 rays is 18 — 20, rarely 17; height greater than that of 

 1st; the 6th ray generally the longest; all rays in this 

 fin simple. Anal furnished with 13 — 15, sometimes 16 rays; 

 longest ray about the eighth. 



Points of pectoral rays all somewhat detached, in 

 particular the undermost, which, too, as is mostly tlie case 

 with Gottoid fishes, are somewliat tliick; the seventh or eighth 

 counting from below, the longest. Caudal emarginate, with 

 rounded edges. 



' A specific character not found enumerated in the 

 detailed descriptions by Kroyer and Malmgren, but men- 

 tioned for the first time by Esniark, is the occurrence, on 

 the head, of three exceedingly slender membranous filaments, 

 or cirri. The largest of these, tliin, compressed, and 

 fringed along the edges, is located above the posterior 

 margin of the eye; the rest ai'e short, simple cirri. 

 They are all of them most slenderly attached to the skin, 

 tlie slightest touch sufficing to detach them, and hence 

 but rarely observed on specimens preserved in museums. 



The ground - colour in the specimen obtained off 

 Spitzbergen was rather light, nay almost wjiitish, exhibiting 

 with great distinctness the 4 transverse bands across the 

 back, whereas the individuals obtained in 1878 on the coast 

 of Jan Mayen were streaked and maculated to that extent 

 with interjacent brownish-black stripes and spots as to con- 

 ceal almost entirely the colour of the ground; and the 

 transverse bands were very indistinct. The character of the 

 bottom may possibly have had something to do with this; 

 off the coast of Jan Mayen the bottom consists of black 

 eruptive mud; off Spitzbergen of clay. 



Distribution. — /. liamatns is a connnon species in 

 the Arctic zone, ' and probably occurs (in company with 

 CoUus qiiadricornis) further north than any otiier of the 

 Cofi/dæ yet known. From Greenland specimens have been 

 fi'eqnently sent to the Museum in Copenhagen ; off the 

 coast of AVest Greenland it was found on tlie English 

 North Pole Expedition (1875 — 76) to be one of the fishes 

 occurring in greatest abundance between lat. 80" — 82" N., 

 and individuals about to spawn were met with here in the 

 month of August. On the eastern coast of Greenland it 

 was taken on the Germania and Hansa Expedition. 1869, 

 in lat. 75" N. 



A considerable number, too, were obtained on the 

 Swedish Expeditions in 1861 and 1872, ofi' Spitzbergen; 

 indeed it can hardly fail to have been observed in every 



n 



