756 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
191, c; p. 769 below), composes a continuation of the 
pharyngeal cartilage in an inverted canaliculate form, 
more or less sharply detined and more or less raised 
above the remaining surface of the cartilage. 
All the fins are of a somewhat rounded shape, re- 
minding us in some degree of the Tench. The dorsal 
tin begins at a distance from the tip of the snout which 
on an average measures very nearly half the length of 
the body, but varies between 48 and 52 % thereof. 
Its base measures on an average Vio °f the length of 
the body, varying between 9 and 11 % of the same. 
Its height (the length of the longest, the first branched 
ray) is always greater than the length of its base and 
measures in the females about 13 — 15 %, in the males 
nearly as much as 17 %>, of the length of the body. 
As a rule the first ray is imperceptible above the skin. 
The same remarks apply to the anal fin, which is of 
the same obliquely quadrilateral form, with more or 
less distinctly rounded corners, and as a rule of the 
same size. The distance between this fin and the tip 
of the snout is greatest in the females and varies be- 
tween about 55 and 61 % of the length of the body. 
The caudal fin is not very deeply forked. Its middle 
rays occupy in average-sized specimens about 9 — 11 % 
of the length of the body and measure more than half 
(53 — 64 %) of the length of its longest rays. 
In this species too, the paired fins afford the most 
trustworthy distinctions of form between the sexes. 
Both pairs are rounded and obliquely oval. The pec- 
toral fins are set, as in the Gudgeon, so low that when 
expanded they lie almost in the same plane as the 
ventrals. In both sexes the length of the pectoral fins 
is as a rule about 13 — 15 % of the length of the body, 
but in the males it may rise during the spawning- 
season to 18 % thereof. In the males the upper (an- 
terior) rays (5 — 7) are thick and have more markedly 
distinguished articulations than in the females. The 
pectoral fins of the Minnow thus supply us with si- 
milar sexual characters to those afforded by the vent- 
ral fins of the Tench. Here, on the other hand, the 
ventral fins of the two sexes differ both in their po- 
sition — somewhat further back in the females — and 
their length, which in the males is more, in the fe- 
males less than 13 % of the length of the body. The 
distance between these fins and the tip of the snout 
measures during youth and in the males about 40 — 42 
% , in the females 42 — 46 % of the length of the body, 
and the distance between them and the anterior angle 
of the pectoral fins (the preabdominal length) during 
youth and in the males 19 — 22 %, in the females 22 — 26 
% of the same length. In consequence hereof the tips 
of the pectoral fins, when laid back, may sometimes 
extend in the males nearly to the bases of the ventral 
fins, while the tips of the latter fins in the same posi- 
tion reach in the females scarcely to the vent, in the 
males beyond this point or even to the beginning of 
the anal fin. The vent, which protrudes considerably 
and is fairly wide at its junction with the urogenital 
aperture, lies perceptibly, though not far, in front of 
the beginning of the anal fin. Here, as in the Cobitoids 
(see above), we find no special scaly appendage at the 
outer angle of the ventral fin. 
The covering of scales shows quite a considerable 
external resemblance to that of the Tench; but the 
scales are of exactly opposite form, deeper than long, 
of a more or less broad elliptical shape, with the longi- 
tudinal axis turned in the transverse direction of the 
body. Instead of being inserted in the skin for the 
greater part of their length, as in the Tench, they are 
chiefly free and hardly imbricated in the longitudinal 
direction of the body, though in a transverse row on 
the back each scale may slightly overlap the one below 
it. The texture is rather coarse, but densely striated 
with concentric ridges, which are interrupted through- 
out the circumference of the scale by radiating grooves 
extending to a greater or less distance inward from the 
margin. The striae are thus divided into patches of 
oblong triangular shape, crossed by transverse streaks 
and with their apex directed towards the central nucleus 
of the scale. The belly is naked in front and at the 
isthmus, but is furnished on each side in front of the 
pectoral fin with a triangular patch of about 8 rows 
of scales. The lateral line pierces its scales throughout 
the greater part of their breadth (in the longitudinal 
direction of the body), but is very often partially or 
entirely wanting on the sides of the tail. It forms a 
downward curve from the temporal region, so sharp 
that it reaches the middle of the sides in front of the 
perpendicular from the tip of the pectoral fin, when 
laid back, and runs back from this point in a straight 
line to the middle of the base of the caudal fin. 
The coloration in conjunction with the well-pro- 
portioned form of the body renders the Minnow one of 
our most handsome fishes. The colours show considerable 
variation, however, according to the locality, the season, 
the sex and the mood of the fish. No long description 
