630 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
glittering in the sunshine or, in the darkness of night, 
shining with phosphorescent lustre, motionless and drift- 
ing with wind and tide — perhaps dazed or senseless 
after a too sudden ascent from deep water, as is the 
case with the true deep-sea fishes — , still it sometimes 
shows considerable activity in its movements. On such 
occasions it may be seen leaping high out of the water, 
as Day tells us on the authority of Couch’s notes and 
of the verbal statement of Dunn. A large Sunfish that 
had been harpooned in the open Atlantic by the crew 
of the Hirondelle, had such power in its fins that, when 
it took to flight on feeling the blow of the harpoon, it 
almost succeeded in drawing boat and all with it down 
to the depths. 
That the Sunfish also visits comparatively shallow 
water off sandbanks, islands, or the coast of the main- 
land, appears from the fact that its intestine-like stomach 
has frequently been found to contain Zostera and alga?, 
even those that only grow at a depth of a few fa- 
thoms. Still, its proper food is probably animal, though 
varied by these vegetable substances. Among the frag- 
ments of these plants Kroyer found in its stomach and 
intestine the scales of some fish, which he supposed 
to have been the Sole, together with Sertularice and 
Ophiurce. Wahlgren enumerates, besides the vegetable 
substances, fragments both of crustaceans and shellfish 
among the contents of the specimen he examined. Koren 
and Collett found numerous Medusa; in the stomach 
of the Sunfish; and this slimy food may perhaps explain 
the composition of the fetid fluid, like thin gruel, of 
which the intestine is generally full. On some occasions 
the Sunfish has taken a hook baited with ordinary 
Mackerel-bait or even with worms. 
The Sunfish has long been known in the Medi- 
terranean and was found on the coast of England (Corn- 
wall) by Willughby and Ray. Bloch includes it among 
the fishes of the Cape of Good Hope. Schlegel gives 
an excellent figure of the species from Japan; and Ram- 
say exhibited in London, as we have mentioned above, 
an unusually large specimen of the Sunfish from Port 
Jackson" (Australia). Its range is, therefore, extensive, 
probably embracing all the tropical and temperate seas. 
In Scandinavia it must be regarded as rather rare. In 
Sweden and Denmark it has most often been found dead, 
floating at the surface or cast ashore, during late au- 
tumn or winter. Under these circumstances it has been 
met with not only in the Cattegat, but also in the Sound 
(a specimen 57 cm. long, in November, 1784, according 
to Retzius), the Great Belt (a specimen about 18 dm. 
long, secured by Fiedler in November, 1862), and 
Flensburg Bay (Mobius and Hkincke, soon after 1860). 
The Royal Museum has received from Bohuslan two 
specimens about 43 cm. long, the first taken by Pro- 
fessor F. Sundevall in October, 1834, the second by 
Prof. S. Loven in 1856. Gothenburg Museum, accord- 
ing to Malm, possesses 4 specimens from this locality, 
between 40 and 55 cm. long and taken from October to 
December inclusive. The specimen 11 dm. long described 
by Wahlberg, stranded in November, 1866 off the fish- 
ing-village of Traslof, just south of Varberg. On the coast 
of Norway, according to Collett, the Sunfish is more fre- 
quent in its occurrence and has been found alive, even near 
the Swedish frontier, off Fredrikshald, in October, 1870. 
Several large specimens have been taken off Bergen and 
in Trondhjem Fjord. Even off the extreme north of Nor- 
way, in Alten Fjord, a Sunfish 11 dm. long has been found''. 
° G-t. Intern. Fish. Exbib., London 1883, Cat. Exhib. N. S. Wales, p. 46. 
b While this sheet was in the press, I received through Mr. C. A. Hansson a fresh specimen, 40 cm. in length, caught off Lesund, at 
the entrance of Dynekil, a fjord in the northernmost part of Bohuslan, on the 6th September, 1892. I here give the principal measurements 
of this specimen: 
Length of the body from the tip of the snout to the middle of the margin of the caudal fin 492 mm. 
„ „ ,, head „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ front margin of the gill-opening, in % of the length of the body 29.9 „ 
Greatest depth of the body (at the anal aperture), in % of the length of the body 66.7 „ 
„ thickness „ „ head (at the temples) „ „ „ „ „ „ „ ,, 18.9 „ 
Distance from the tip of the snout to the beginning of the dorsal fin, in % of the length of the body 67.1 „ 
>, ,, ,, ii n ii ii ii ii ii ii ii anal ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, 70.7 ,, 
Length of the base of the dorsal fin, in % of the length of the body 19.8 „ 
„ „ „ „ „ „ anal „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 19.8 „ 
„ „ „ longest ray „ „ dorsal „ „ „ „ „ „ „ ,, „ 42.2 „ 
„ „ „ „ „ » ,, anal „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ - — - - — 40.8 „ 
„ „ „ middle „ „ ,, caudal „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ „ 12.6 „ 
Distance between the anal aperture and the beginning of the anal fin, in % of the length of the body 6.5 „ 
Length of the pectoral fins, in % of the length of the body - 12.6 „ 
,, „ „ snout, in % of the length of the head 49.3 „ 
„ „ „ orbit, „ „ „ „ ,, „ „ „ - — 17.1 „ 
„ „ „ postorbital part of the head, in % of the length of the head.. 38.4 „ 
Height of the orbit, in % of the length of the head 14.3 „ 
Longitudinal diameter of the cornea, in % of the length of the head — 13.2 ,, 
Vertical „ „ „ „ „ ,, ,, ,, ,, „ ,, ,, _ 12.9 ,, 
Breadth of the interorbital space, in % of the length of the head 55.8 ,, 
The iris was blue, with white inner and outer margins of a faint golden lustre. The left eye (but not the right) had a white spot 
in the lower part thereof. The pupil was of a little deeper blue than the iris. 
