SCORP^NA.] PISCES (OSSEI) ACANTHOPT. 347 



smooth : first dorsal rounded ; the rays flexible but not articulated : second 

 immediately behind it ; all the rays simple : anal answering exactly to 

 the second dorsal: finless portion of the tail one-third of the entire 

 length : caudal rounded : pectorals also rounded, about the length of the 

 head ; all the rays simple : ventrals immediately under them, narrow and 

 pointed, the spinous ray closely attached to the first articulated one : 



D. o 6; A. 7; C. 11; P. 16; V. 1/2. 



(Colours.) Brown above; beneath white; more or less marked with 

 dusky spots. 



Common on many parts of the coast, concealing itself in the sand, or 

 amongst stones. Feeds on small Crustacea and marine insects. Spawns, 

 according to Bloch, in May. 



GEN. 7. SCORP^NA, Linn. 



(1. SEBASTES, Cuv.) 



21. S. Norvegica, Cuv. (Northern Sebastes.) Dorsal 

 fin with fifteen spinous and fifteen soft rays ; the longest of 

 the spinous rays scarcely more than one-fifth the depth of 

 the body. 



Sebastes Norvegicus, Cuv. et Vol. Poiss. torn. iv. p. 240. pi. 87. 

 Cuv. Reg. An. torn. n. p. 166. Serranus Norvegicus, Flem. Brit. 

 An. p. 212. Sea-Perch, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. in. p. 258. pi. 48. 

 Id. (Edit. 1812.) vol. in. p. 349. pi. 59. Bergylt, & Norway Had- 

 dock, Yarr. Brit. Fish. vol. i. p. 73. 

 LENGTH. Two feet and upwards. Cuv. 



DESCRIPT. (Form.) Resembles the Perch: body oblong, a little com- 

 pressed ; dorsal and ventral lines slightly convex : mouth oblique ; lower 

 jaw longest: depth at the pectorals contained not quite three times and 

 a half in the length ; thickness not half the depth : snout a little convex : 

 space between the eyes flat: infra -orbitals somewhat pitted, but not 

 armed : one small spine on the edge of the orbit in front ; behind it, 

 on the cranium, three others also small : on each side of the occiput 

 a slightly elevated crest, terminating likewise in a small spine : scapu- 

 lar and supra-scapular each with a single spine: two on the opercle; 

 preopercle rounded, with five sharp, but rather short, spines ; subopercle 

 and interopercle each also with one small spine at the point where they 

 meet : fine velvet-like teeth in both jaws, as well as on the vomer and 

 palatines : dorsal commencing above the supra-scapular ; spinous portion 

 equalling nearly one-third of the whole length ; rays strong but short ; 

 soft portion only half the length of the spinous, but twice as high : anal 

 commencing in a line with the soft portion of the dorsal; first three 

 rays spinous, the first only half the length of the two others ; soft rays 

 branched, twice as long as the spinous ones : caudal nearly even : pec- 

 torals equalling one-fifth of the whole length, rounded, as broad as long ; 

 the first ten rays branched, the rest simple : ventrals a little behind the 

 pectorals, and not quite so long : 



D. 15/15; A. 3/8; C. 14; P. 19; V. 1/5: 



scales covering the whole head and body ; a few small ones on the soft 

 portions of the dorsal and anal fins, as well as on the caudal : lateral line 

 parallel to the back; its course at one-fourth of the depth. Number of 

 vertebrae thirty-one. Cuv. 



