638 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
Genus GASTR-^EA. \ 
Body elongated (, greatest depth less than V 2 the length of the head), in the abdominal region pentagonal and only 
slightly deeper than broad; the forepart (in front of the anal spine) shorter than the hind part , including the 
caudal fin. Number of f ree spinous rays in front of the soft-rayed dorsal fin at least, 13. Ventral fins inserted 
at the middle of the long pelvic bones, which lie at the lower lateral edges of the belly and are without any firm 
osseous connexion with each other. Jaw-teeth compressed. 
As we have mentioned above, this genus contains only one species: 
THE FIFTEEN-SPINED STICKLEBACK (sw. tangspiggen). 
GASTRiEA SPINACHIA. 
Plate XXVIII, fig. 5. 
Distance between the ventral spines and the anal spine less than 3 * * / 5 of the length of the head or than 2 / 5 of the 
distance between the former spines and the tip of the snout, which distance is more than 72 % of that between 
the anal spine and the tip of the snout. Free dorsal spines of uniform, size, except the hindmost , which is also 
the largest. Branchiostegal membranes united underneath into a broad, free dermal fold across the isthmus. 
R. br. 3; D. XIV 6 — XV|6 c — 7 ; A. I[5— 7 ; V. l|2; P. 9 — 
10 d ; C. x+l + 10+l+a?; L. lat. 40; Vert. 40 — 42. 
S 'yn. Aculeatus vel Pungitius marinus longus, Schonev., Ichth. Slesv. 
IIols., p. 10: Aculeatus marinas major , Id., ibid., tab. IV, 
fig. 3 ; Gasterosteus aculeis in dorso quindecim, Art., Ichth. 
Gen., p. 52; Syn., p. 81; Centriscus , A, 1, (aliis Spinochia) 
Klein, Hist. Pise., Miss. IV, p. 48; StrSm, Sondm. Beskr., 
part. I, p. 316. 
Gasterosteus Spinachia, Lin., Syst. Nat., ed. X, tom. I, p. 296; 
Fn. Suec., ed. II, p. 119; Bl., Fisch. Deutschl., part. II, 
p. 84, tab. LIII, fig. 1; Retz.. Fn. Suec. Lin., p. 339; 
Cuv., Val., Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. IV, p. 509; Ekstr., Vet. 
Akad. Handl. 1831, p. 305; Nilss., Prodr. Ichth. Scand., 
p. 87; Ekstr., v. We., Skand. Fisk., ed. I, p. 21, tab. IV, 
fig. 3; Sundev., Stockh. L. Hush. Sallsk. Handl., H. VI 
(1855), p. 79; Nilss., Skand. Fu., Fisk., p. 112; Lindstr., 
Gotl. L. Hush. Sallsk. Arsber. 1866, p. 15 (sep.); Gthr, 
Gat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. I, p. 7 ; Sauv. ( Gastrcea ) Nouv. 
Archiv. Mus. Par., tom. X (1874), p. 36; Bncke ( Gasterosteus ), 
Fisch., Fischer., Fischz. W., 0. Preuss., p. 76; Handb. 
Fischz., Fischer. (M. v. d. Borne), p. 99; Day, Fish. Gt. 
Brit., Irel., vol. I, p. 246, tab. LXVIII, fig. 5; Mela, Vert. 
Fenn., p. 280, tab. IX. 
Spinachia vulgaris , Flmng, Brit. Anirn., p. 219; Kr., Damn. 
Fiske, vol. I, p. 193; Mgrn, Finl. Fiskf. (disp. Helsingf. 
1863), p. 16; Coll., Forh. Vid. Selsk. Christ. 1874, Tillaegsli., 
p. 14; Winth., Naturh. Tidskr. Kbhvn, ser. 3, vol. XII, p. 
5; Mok., Hist. Nat. Poiss. Fr., tom. Ill, p. 171; Hansen, 
Zool. Dan., Fiske, p. 31, tab. V, fig. 4; Mob., Hcke, Fisch. 
Osts., p. 64; Storm, N. Vid. Selsk. Skr. (Trondhj.) 1883, 
p. 15; Lillj., Sv., Norg. Fn., Fisk., vol. I, p. 370. 
Spinachia Linnei, Malm, Gbgs, Boh. Fn., p. 373. 
Obs. The name of Spinachia or, as Klein writes it, Spinochia 
is, according to Cuvier and Valenciennes, a Latinized form, dating 
from the Middle Ages, of the French epinoche. 
The Fifteen-spined Stickleback is distinguished from 
its relatives by the elongated form of the body, with 
the greatest depth, at the base of the ventral tins, about 
107 2 — 87 2 % of the length. From the head to the 
vent the body is pentagonal, then quadrangular, but 
more and more depressed behind, until at the base of 
the caudal tin it suddenly becomes laterally compressed. 
The length of the body may rise, at least in the fe- 
males, to 1 8 1 / 2 cm., but is usually between 13 and 
15 cm. 
The elongated head measures between 1 j i and 1 /f 
of the length of the body, and in old specimens the 
a In order to enable us without tautology to retain the Linmean specific name of spinachia, we here adopt the generic name proposed 
by Sauvage in 1874, a Latinized form of Cuvier’s Les Gastres, in spite of the fact that, even in the first edition of his Regne Animal (1817), 
the latter author adopted Spinachia as the name of the subgenus which Fleming ( British Animals, 1828) raised to a generic rank. 
6 Sometimes 13, according to Heincke; sometimes 17, according to Day. 
c Sometimes 5, according to Lilljeborg. 
d Sometimes 11, according to Khdyer. 
c 25'6 — 2 1 ’ 5 % of the length of the body, according to our measurements of specimens between 53 and 172 mm. long. 
