506 TEN YEARS IN SWEDEN. 



This is the least handsome of all. Colour usually green- 

 ish grey, with indistinct dark transverse bands ; iris blood 

 red. D. 17,9; P. 15; A. 3,7 ; C. 15. 



Gen. Acantholabrus, Yal. 



Five spiny rays in the anal fin (no other northern species 

 has more than three) ; preopercle denticulated all along the 

 hinder margin. 



65. ACANTHOLABRUS EXOLETUS, Cuv. Sma Munt Smeltra. 



The Kock Cook; The Small-mouthed Wrasse. 

 Generally about 5 in. long, and is the rarest of all the 

 Scandinavian wrasses, from all of which it may be dis- 

 tinguished by its very small mouth ; the height of the 

 body more than equal to the length of the head. 

 D. 18,7; A. 5,7 ; P. 13; Y. 1,5; C. 15. Colour when 

 just caught olive brown; belly whitish; sides of the 

 head yellow-brown, with longitudinal blue bands. 



MALACOPTERYGII. SOFT-FINNED FISHES. 



All the fin rays (with the exception sometimes of the first 

 in the dorsals and pectorals) soft and cartilaginous, mostly 

 divided at the points. 



Division 1. ABDOMINALES. 



The ventrals suspended from the abdomen, and placed 

 far behind the pectorals. 



Nearly all the Scandinavian fresh-water fish belong to 

 this order. 



Fam. 1. CYPEINID^I. 



Body well shaped, covered with round scales ; one dorsal 

 and one anal fin ; mouth small, without teeth, which lie in the 

 throat. They are all fresh-water fish, properly speaking, 

 although many of them can live in brackish water. Their 

 food consists of vegetable matter, larvae, and insects. No 

 member of this family has more than three rays on the bran- 

 chiostegous membrane. 



