EELPOUT. 
607 
or at least most of the young have been excluded. The 
fry creep forth, head first, one after another, and sink 
down to the right and left of the tail of the mother- 
fish, which she keeps in a somewhat elevated position. 
Now that they have reached the bottom, they lie there 
several hours, perhaps a whole day, without perceptibly 
moving or rising. If there are several Eelpouts in the 
same aquarium, one may observe, to one’s surprise, 
two or more of them swim (dose up to the mother-fish 
and press her on both sides, apparently to assist the 
operation, but in reality only to devour the young as 
soon as they appear. The mother does not hesitate to 
folloAv their example if she is not sufficiently supplied 
with other food. In most cases the Eel pout brings forth 
all her young at a birth; but it sometimes happens 
that only a part of them are born at first and the rest, 
or even only some of the rest, one or more days later". 
The food of the Eelpout consists chiefly of mol- 
lusks, crustaceans, and worms, but also of small fishes. 
It lives in water of moderate depth on shores where it 
finds a stony bottom overgrown with seaweed. Hence 
it is known as Tdnglake or Stenlake {tcnig, tang, Jake, 
Burbot), which are its ordinary names on the coast of 
the Baltic, where its outward resemblance to the Burbot 
has thus attracted most attention. In other localities 
its slight likeness to the Eel and the long-known fact 
that, unlike most of the Teleosts, it brings forth its 
young alive, have given rise to the ancient and popular 
belief that the Eelpout is the mother of the Eel, and 
have bestowed upon it various names. Thus, in German 
it is still called Aalmutter, in Danish Aalekone, Aale- 
moder , or Aalekus, and in Bohuslan generally Alkussa 
or simply Kussa. Its manner of life has also contri- 
buted in a high degree to its comparison with the Eel. 
It lives in scattered and solitary specimens, is found 
everywhere, but seldom in numbers, and conceals itself 
under stones, among seaweed, and in crevices in the 
bottom. All round the coasts of Scandinavia it is com- 
mon, from Varan ger Fjord" along Norway and Sweden 
into the Baltic and up to the island-belt of Tornea. 
On the Danish coast and on all the coasts and banks 
of the North Sea the Eelpout is a common fish; but 
west and south of the English Channel it is rare, 
though Steindacbner states (1. c.) that it has been met 
with in the neighbourhood of Cadiz. The Eelpout also 
makes its way occasionally into fresh water. It has 
been taken for instance, according to Brehm, in the 
Havel off Spandau. 
The flesh of the Eelpout is firm, white, and in 
flavour not unlike that of the Eel. Still it is not eaten 
in many places, a circumstance which seems to be due 
entirely or at least most usually to the green colour 
of the bones, which becomes deeper and deeper during 
the process of boiling and excites the groundless suspi- 
cion that the flesh is poisonous. There is no special 
fishery for the Eelpout: it is taken only by accident 
and generally while the fisherman is drawing the seine 
for other fish. (Ekstrom, Fries, Smitt.) 
Genus LYCQDES. 
Vertical fins similar in structure throughout their length. Ventral fins jugular and rudimentary, with 2 — 6 b rays. 
Jaws, palatine hones, and the head of the vomer furnished with teeth. 
This genus, which was founded in 1831 by Y. 
Reinhardt 0 , is extremely closely allied to the preceding 
one in form and the changes of form as well as in the 
distribution of colour on the body. Externally the 
absence of the depression in the margin of the dor- 
sal fin is a readily perceivable difference from the Eel- 
pouts, but both genera are identical in all other respects, 
if we except the more back ward beginning of the dorsal 
fin in Lycodes, where the distance between the begin- 
ning of this fin and the tip of the snout is always 
a The Royal Museum has received from the White Sea through Lieutenant LI. Sandeberg an Eelpout 19 cm. long which is remarkable 
for the extraordinary height of the anterior part of the dorsal fin. 
6 The latter number in Lycodes macvops , according to Vaillant, who, however, describes these rays as simple ( Exped . Scient. du Tra- 
vailleur et du Talisman, Poiss., p. 30 7), wh ile in other species they are known to be branched. 
c Overs. Vid. Selsk. Forh. Kb/tvn 1830 — 31, p. LXXIV. It was not until 1838 — Nature., Math. Afli., Deel VII, p. 147, published 
by the same society — that the genus was completely determined and characterized. The name of Lycodes (wolflike, Gr. Lv'/.og) is derived 
from the resemblance of the fish to Anavrliiclias lupus. 
7 1 
Scan cl in a v i a n Fis lies. 
