FISHES. 579 



162. ORTHAGORISCUS MOLVA, Schneid. Korta Klump Fisk. 



The Short Sun Fish. D. 



Body about as high as it is long to the caudal fin ; 

 skin rough; colouring shiny silvery blue or brown; 

 paler underneath. 



Of the few examples which have been washed up on these 

 coasts, the largest was 23 in. long, and nearly 16 in. high. 



II. CHONDROPTERYGIL 



Cartilaginous ganoid fishes. 

 1. Cartilaginous fishes, with free gills. 



Gen. Acipenser, L. 



Body long, mailed as well as the head; longitudinal 

 rows of osseous tubercles along the body ; no teeth ; four 

 beards under the snout, which is long and tapering ; one 

 dorsal, placed far back as in the pike ; upper lobe of the 

 tail long and pointed, elevated, always much longer than 

 the lower lobe ; are large sea fish, but come up rivers, like 

 the salmon, to spawn. 



163. ACIPENSER STURIO, L. Stor. The Sturgeon. F. D. 



Five rows of .tubercles on the body ; nose long, its 

 length from the tip to the mouth 3 or 4 times the 

 breadth of the gape. A sturgeon of 6 feet will weigh 

 about 100 lb., of 8 feet, nearly 120 Ib. 

 The nose of this fish becomes so broad and blunt with 

 age, that probably the broad-nosed sturgeon (A. latirostris, 

 Parn.), is nothing more than an older form of the common 

 sturgeon. 



Is taken occasionally off all these coasts, but more 

 rarely in the Baltic and Sound than in the Cattegat and 

 North Sea. The largest on record was 8 ft. long. 



Gen. Chimcera, L. 



Body long, without plates or scales, gradually diminish- 

 ing, and ending in a long whip-like tail ; nose conical ; jaws 



