LOACH. 
713 
about 9 and 11 % a of the length of the body. The 
rays are actually 11 in number, but the first two are so 
small and line as to be difficult of detection; the third 
ray is also quite short; the fourth ray does not extend 
quite to the top of the fin and, like the rays in front 
of it, is simple; the fifth and sixth rays are the long- 
est and, like the following ones, branched. 
The anal fin is much smaller and generally contains 
8 or 9 rays, among which the first branched ray (the 
3rd or 4th from the beginning) is the longest. The 
vent occupies the same position as in the preceding 
species. 
The caudal fin is truncate at the hind margin, with 
rounded corners. Of its 18 articulated rays the 14 
middle ones are equal in length, but the two uppermost 
and the two lowest somewhat shorter. The outermost 
of these rays above and below is simple, the others are 
branched. Besides these there are a few quite short, 
unarticulated, supporting rays. The median length of 
the fin varies between about 1 1 1 / 8 and 14 % of that of 
the body or between 60 and 75 % of that of the head. 
The pectoral fins are fairly large — their length 
greater than the greatest depth of the body — broad, 
and rounded, with 11 — 13 rays (usually 12), among 
which the first is simple, articulated, and rather short, 
the others are multifid and deeply branched, the second 
and third being the longest, the last two very small 
and difficult to distinguish with accuracy. 
The ventral fins are much smaller than the pec- 
toral, their length being only slightly greater than the 
height of the anal fin. They begin almost vertically 
below the beginning of the dorsal fin, are oval in shape, 
and contain 7 — 9 rays (usually 8), among which the 
outermost is simple, articulated, and rather short, the 
others are deeply branched, the innermost two closely 
united, and the second and third the longest. 
The scales are rather small — in specimens 12 cm. 
long their breadth is less than 1 mm. — and circular, 
densely set, but not imbricated, numbering about 15 
from the lateral line to the dorsal edge. On the fore- 
part of the body, on the back and belly, we find only 
a few, scattered here and there; on the hind part of the 
body they are firmly inserted and set close together. The 
lateral line is straight. Neither here nor in the Spined 
Loach does it pierce any scales. It starts from the upper 
angle of the gill-opening and then follows the middle 
of the side. In front it is furnished with distinct, pro- 
minent pores, but behind these pores become indistinct, 
being hidden by the scales. 
The coloration is of a fairly bright, grayish brown 
with darker, large spots along the back and the lateral 
line; but these spots are not so distinct and constant 
as in the Spined Loach; below they are broken up into 
an inconstant pattern, with which the sides of the body 
as well as the cheeks are mottled. As a rule we find 
a black streak on the sides of the snout as in the Spined 
Loach; and an oblong, black spot usually appears at the 
lower corner of the base of the caudal fin; but even 
these markings are less defined than in the Spined Loach. 
The dorsal, caudal (sometimes the anal as well), and 
pectoral fins bear transverse bands of dark spots. The 
ventral fins as well as the anal fin are in most cases 
plain, in others marked with a few dark spots. 
The internal organs differ from those of the Spined 
Loach partly in the liver being somewhat shorter and 
behind not divided into lobes but collected in a mass, 
which envelops the stomach below and on the sides, 
partly in the stomach being furnished with a pyloric part 
pointing in a forward direction; the intestine also forms 
a coil, which runs forward beside the posterior part of 
the stomach. The ovary is forked in front. 
According to observations made in the vicinity of 
Kuopio in Finland and communicated by W. vox Wright 
to Sundevall, the Loach is there common 6 in streams 
and brooks with fairly clear water, a gravelly bottom, 
and a depth of a foot or two. It is said to keep close 
to the bottom and generally to hide under stones, but 
not to burrow in the bottom, as the Spined Loach does. 
In the said locality it spawns at the beginning of June, 
about a fortnight after the breaking up of the ice. 
In Germany, according to Bloch and other writers, it 
spawns in March and April, or early in the spring, 
there as in Finland. Its habits are otherwise not un- 
like those of the Spined Loach. 
Linnaeus tells us in the Fauna Snecica that this 
species was introduced from Germany into Lake Malar 
by King Frederick I; and the Royal Museum possesses 
two specimens with no assigned locality, but marked 
in the same way as the other fishes from the Museum 
of Drottningholm, where Linnaeus examined and cle- 
“ Sometimes about 8 %, according to CanestrinTs measurements. 
b According to Qvensel’s catalogue one specimen in the Royal Museum was taken in 1800 at Uleaborg. Mela also believes that the 
species occurs in the extreme north of the Gulf of Bothnia. 
