244 THE FRESH- WATKK FISHES OF KUROPK. 



ward, and at every pore gives off an oblique transverse branch, and, curving 

 down to near the abdomen, it rises again midway between the ventral and 

 anal fins ; but descends again, and then continues parallel to the anal fin to its 

 termination in the caudal. Every pore in a scale gives off one, or occasionally 

 two, short lateral branches. The cephalic canals are strongly developed, and 

 the sub-orbital branch occupies the entire width between the eye and the 

 nares. The inferior maxillary branch extends along the free operculum. 

 The pharyngeal bones and teeth are slender. The 

 tooth formula is 5'2 2'5 (Fig. 139). 



The scales are not firmly adherent, very delicate 

 and flexible; their margins are entire. They are 

 marked with numerous rays, which are not regular, 

 Fig. 139 PHARYNGEAL but very distinct, especially on the ventral surface. 



TEETH OF PELECUS CUL- 



TRATUS The smallest scales are behind the skull ; the largest 



are on the sides, but they never exceed half the 



diameter of the eye. The scales forming the abdominal edge overlap one 

 another, so as to form a small, soft, flexible keel. There are no scales on the 

 base of the pectoral fin. Elongated, blunt-pointed scales occur on the bases of 

 the ventral fins. The rake teeth are long and pointed in the anterior row 

 of the first gill-arch, but are short in the succeeding rows. 



This species is commonly from six to twelve inches long, and does not 

 exceed a foot and a half in length, or a pound and a half in weight. It lives 

 from four to five years, spawns in May, multiplies slowly, and is not often met 

 with in rivers. It was known to Linna3us as inhabiting the Baltic, but it prefers 

 pure running water, where it usually keeps near the banks and lives like other 

 Cyprinoids. Bloch states that the ovary contains one hundred thousand eggs. 



The colour of the neck is steel-blue or bluish-green; the back is a brown- 

 grey ; the cheeks have the lustre of mother-of-pearl ; and the sides are silvery. 

 The dorsal and caudal fins are grey ; the other fins reddish ; the iris is silvery. 

 The shining silvery coat attracts its enemies, and makes it an easy prey to 

 water birds aud predaceous fishes. Being scantily clothed with flesh, which 

 is soft and stored with bones, it is very little valued as food, and hence is 

 seldom fished for. 



The Austrian authors record that in early times it was a fish of bad omen, 

 presaging war, famine, and pestilence, a reputation which was maintained by 

 its irregular appearance at intervals of several years. 



It is widely distributed in Europe ; is found in the Crimea, and in the 

 Danube and rivers of European Russia which empty into the Black and Caspian 

 Seas, as well as in those seas. In Prussia it is common in the Haffs and 

 estuaries, where it is taken in great numbers with nets. 



