706 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
THE SPINED LOACH (sw. nissogat). 
COBITIS TtENIA. 
Plate XXXI, fig. 4. 
Body laterally compressed. Breadth ( thickness ) of the head at the eyes less than 2 / 5 of its length; breadth of 
the interorbital space less than the diameter of the latter. Below each eye a movable preorbital spine 
pointing in a backward direction. 
R. br. 3 ; 
(2) + 1 . (2) + l (1) + 1. T7 (1)+1. 
7—8 ’ " 5 ’ ' 8 ’ ' 6" ’ 
C. «+l + 14 + l+«; Vert. 45 b . 
Syn. Cobites aculeata, Rond., Pise., part. II, p. 204. Tcenia cor- 
nuta, Schonev., Ichthyol. Slesv. Hols., p. 74. Cobitis , aculeo 
bifurco infra utrumque oculum, Art., Gen. Pise., p. 2; 
Syn. Pise., p. 3; Spec. Pise., p. 4. 
Cobitis Tcenia, Lin., Syst. Nat., ed. X, torn. I, p. 303; Fn. 
Suee., ed. II, p. 121; Bl., Naturg. Fisch. Deutschl., I, p. 
221, tab. XXXI, fig. 2; Pall., Zoogr. Ross, ,4s., tom. Ill, 
p. 166; Flmng ( Gobitis ), Brit. Anim., p. 189; Nilss. {Co- 
bitis), Prodr. Ichth. Scand., p. 35; Jen., Man. Brit. Vert., 
p. 417; Agass. ( Acanthopsis ), Mem. Soc. Neuch., tom. I, p. 
36; Yarr. {Botia ex Gray), Brit. Fish., ed. I, vol. I, p. 
381; I\r., Damn. Fiske, vol. Ill, p. 564; Cuv., Val. (Cobitis), 
Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. XVIII, p. 58; Nilss., Skand. Fn., 
Fisk., p. 345; Kessl., Bull. Soc. Natural. Mosc., tom. XXIX 
(1856), p. 352; Hckl, Kn., Susswasserf. Oesterr. Mon., p. 
303; Costa, Fn. Regn. Nap., Pesci, Abdom. Malacott. Cypr., 
p. 31; Sieb., Siissiuasserf. Mitteleur., p. 338; Mgrn, Finl. 
Fisk. (disp. Helsingf.), p. 37 ; Steind., Stzber. Akad. Wiss. 
Wien, Math. Naturw. Cl. LIE, i (1865), p. 490; Blanch., 
Poiss. d. eaux. donees Fr., p. 285; Canestr., Arch., Zoo!., 
Anat., Fisiol., vol. IV, fasc. I, p. 146; Gthr, Cat. Brit. 
Mus., Fish., vol. VII, p. 362; Canestr., Fn. Ital., part. Ill, 
Pesci, p. 20; Cederste., Ofvers. Vet. Akad. Forh. 1874, No. 
9, p. 47, tab. XI; Fedders. (Botia), Naturh. Tidskr. Kbhvn, 
ser. 3, vol. XII, p. 92; Mor. (Cobitis), Hist. Nat. Poiss. Fr., 
tom. Ill, p. 434; Bncke, Fisch., Fischer., Fischz. O ., W. 
Prenss., p. 147 ; Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., Irel., vol. II, p. 201, 
tab. CXXXVII, fig. 3; Mela, Vert. Fenn., p. 314, tab. X; 
Norback, Handl. Fiskev., Fiskafv., p. 444; Lillj., Sv., Norg. 
Fisk., vol. Ill, p. 345; Fatio, Fn. Vert. Suisse, vol. IV, 
tab. V, fig. 2; vol. V, p. 10. 
Cobitis caspia, Eichw., Bull. Soc. Nat. Mosc. 1838, II, p. 133. 
Cobitis tcenia japonica, Schl., Fn. Japon., p. 222, tab. CIII, 
figg. 3 et 3. a. 
Cobitis elongata , Hckl, Kn., 1. c., p. 305. 
Cobitis larvata, De Fil., Mem. Accad. Torin., XIX, p. LXXI, 
vide Canestr. Arch. Zool., Anat., Fisiol., vol. IV, fasc. I, 
p. 150, tav. VI, fig. 7. 
The Spinecl Loach is in general the smallest of the 
European Cobitoids, its ordinary length being between 
1 / 2 and 1 dm., though according to Moreau it may 
sometimes attain a length of 12 cm. From Krain 
(Austria), however, Heckel and Kner have described 
examples of this species, under the name of Cobitis 
elongata, that measured nearly 16 cm. 
The body is shallow and compressed, but of fairly 
uniform depth. The greatest depth of the body, which 
generally lies about half-way between the head and the 
dorsal fin, is about 1 / s of its length 0 . The thickness at 
the same point is about 7 /n of the depth in our most 
terete specimen; but as a rule the body is still thinner, 
the greatest thickness being sometimes no more than 
half the greatest depth. The body is of almost uniform 
thickness throughout its depth, with obtusely rounded 
dorsal and ventral edges, at the tip of the tail ribbon- 
shaped, in front with the snout obtusely rounded at 
the sides. This species, like the next one and the 
majority of the species within the family, is charac- 
terized in general by a slightly marked (comparatively 
deep) peduncle of the tail, the least depth thereof vary- 
ing between 7 and 8 % of the length of the body. But 
in the aforesaid form ( Cobitis elongata) described by 
Heckel and Kner, this depth seems from their figure 
to have been only 5 % of the length of the body. 
The length of the head measures 1 6 1 / 2 d — 147 2 % 
of that of the body. It gives the fish a singular ap- 
pearance on account of its sharply arcuate upper pro- 
file, with the deep snout projecting beyond the mouth 
and lower jaw, which lie on the same plane as the 
lower profile, which is generally straight. The specific 
length, 
8 Sometimes 5, according to Heckel and Kner. 
b 41, according to Valenciennes. 40 — 42, according to Canestrini. 43 — 44, according to CederstrSm. 
c According to Canestrini’s measurements of 23 specimens the greatest depth of the body varies between 10 and 1 6 1 / 2 % of its 
increasing generally with age. 
d In young specimens (less than l /, dm. in length) even 18 ft, %, according to Canestrini. 
