616 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
is 3 mm. long (deep) and 2 mm. broad, one of the scales 
of the lower lateral line 2Y S mm. deep and 2 mm. broad. 
The internal organs, which are described at 
length by Reinhardt, resemble those of the Eel- 
pout in all essential respects, only that here the stomach 
is somewhat longer. The peritoneum, as well as the 
pharynx and palate, is black. In the preceding species 
it is white. The abdominal cavity occupies Vs of the 
length of the body, and the length of the intestine is 
3 / 5 of the latter. The pyloric appendages of this spe- 
cies are very rudimentary. In the preceding species 
they are about as large as in the Eelpout. The testes, 
are, as usual, two, but the ovary is simple. In adult 
females the ripe eggs are as large as those of the Sal- 
mon, according to Collett, or about 6 mm. in diameter, 
but comparatively few in number, “hardly more than 
1,200 in each individual. ’ The spawning-season occurs, 
according to the same writer, probably during the first 
months of spring. In the intestine Reinhardt found 
entire shells of digested mussels, Collett crushed sea- 
urchins, starfish, and sea-anemones, as well as frag- 
ments of worms and crustaceans. 
When this species has passed through the early sta- 
ges of growth, it is of a deep brownish black, with from 
5 to 8 whitish yellow, transverse bands across the dorsal 
fin and down the sides, the posterior bands extending 
farthest down, and the hindmost ones of all advancing 
even over the anal fin. Two spots of the same light 
colour as the transverse bands are set beside each other 
on the occiput, just as in the preceding species. The 
head is grayish brown, with the opercular flap shading 
into black. The white scales shine through the thin 
skin that covers them. Such is the appearance of the 
fish, according to Collett, until it attains a length of 
about 4 dm. The black ground-colour now begins to 
encroach upon the transverse bands of whitish yellow, 
which are thus broken up, on the dorsal fin into narrow 
stripes, on the back into confluent, ocellated spots, and 
often joined in pairs in their lower parts so as to form 
garland-like figures. In the same way the occipital spots 
may be gathered into a transverse band between the 
gill-openings. Lmodes VahJii, it is said, may finally 
assume an almost plain, brownish black tint. 
Esmark’s Lycodes seems to be fairly common in the 
deep water off the extreme north of Norway, where its 
presence was first discovered in 18,64 by Esmark. Col- 
lett enumerates 22 large specimens, between 58 and 
70 V 2 cm. long, as having been taken in recent times, 
principally during the years 1881 — 83, in most cases 
on long-lines in Varanger Fjord and at depths of about 
100 — 250 fathoms. The species has also been found by 
the Norwegian Arctic Expedition in 260 — 459 fathoms 
of water, west of the northern part of Spitzbergen, and 
at a depth of 350 fathoms off’ Bodo. Gunther states 
that it has been met with in Faroe Channel; and the 
small specimen from Drobaksund in Christiania Fjord, 
that Avas taken in 1866 by M. Sars in 50 or 60 fathoms 
of Avater, in all probability belongs to this species. 
Brown-Goode and Bean have described it from La 
Have Bank (42° 43’ N. lat.) and the Grand Banks on 
the east coast of North America. Reinhardt’s type- 
specimens Avere from Greenland. It is thus an Arctic 
deep-sea fish with a fairly extensive range to the 
south. 
LYCODES SARS1I. 
Fig. 151. 
Coloration grayish brown , with regular , brownish black, transverse spots on the back and the upper half of the sides 
and also lower down on the hind part of the tail. A blackish brown , longitudinal band forward along the snout 
from each of the eyes. Scales scattered, and extending from the occiput along the dorsal side to the beginning of 
the last third of the tail. Depth of the body at the beginning of the anal fin about 6 or 7 % of its own length. 
Tip of the tail blunt. Length of the head more than 22 % (23 — 26 %) of the length of the tail from the 
beginning of the anal fin to the tip of the last fin-rays. 
Fig. 151. Lycodes Sarsii, twice the natural size. Taken off Beian in Trondbjem Fjord, on the 31st of August, 1882, in between 80 and 
200 ftlmis. of water, by G. 0. Saks. The property of the Zoological Museum of Christiania University. 
R. br. 5; R. 15—16; V. 2 (?). 
Syn. Lycodes Sarsii , Coll., Forh. Vid. Selsk. Christ. 1871, p. 62; ibid. 
1874, Tillcegsh., p. 102; N. Nordh. Kosped ., Zool., Fislce , p. 
117; N. Mag. Naturv. Christ., Bd. 29 (1884), p. 78, tab. I, figg. 
3 — 4; Ltllj., Sv., Norg. Fish., vol. II, p. 23; G-thr, Deep 
Sea Fish., Chalk Exped., part. LVII, (Zool., vol. XXII), p. 80. 
