822 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
the Baltic; but their occurrence in the lower course of 
the Helge, which there widens into broads, finds a pa- 
rallel in many places, the Zope often ascending rivers 
both from the Baltic and the Black Seas. The Zope is 
further known from the lower parts of the Rhine, We- 
ser, and Elbe (Siebold), from the above-mentioned 
German rivers and Half’s connected with the Baltic, from 
the Danube, up to Hungary and the Hungarian lakes 
(Hckl., Kn.), from upper Austria (Sieb.), from the whole 
of Russia-in-Europe, with the exception of the river ba- 
sins sloping to the Arctic Ocean, and from the Black 
and Caspian Seas (Pallas, Kessler, and Grimm). 
The temperament of the Zope seems in the main 
to resemble that of the Bream. Its diet, however, in- 
cludes less vegetable substances, and consists more of 
insects and worms. The spawning-season occurs in 
April and May, much earlier than that of the Bream, 
and sometimes, according to Baron Gyllenstjerna as 
quoted by Nilsson, even before the ice has melted in 
the inlets of Lake Malar. The spawning-place is chosen 
in shallow water with a weedy bottom. At this season 
the Zope often ventures even upon flooded meadow 
land. The operation of spawning is performed as we 
have described in the case of the Bream, but is said 
to last no more than 1 — 3 days, during which time the 
Zope is no less afraid of noise than the said species. 
The course of its development and its growth are little 
known; but of its fecundity Bloch states that in a fe- 
male weighing 468 V, grin., with ovaries 164*7 grm. in 
weight, the number of the ova, which were of the size 
of a poppy seed, was about 67,500. 
When the spawning is over, the Zope retires to 
deeper water, and is seldom found near shore through- 
out the rest of the year, but only in the depths. In 
autumn and winter it assembles in large shoals, like 
the Bream, where it can find a deep pool. 
The flesh of the Zope, is flabby, white, bony, and 
of sweetish, indifferent flavour, being poorer in summer 
than in winter, and fattest previous to the spawning in 
April. Still the fish is eaten fresh, in which case it is 
boiled, and is also salted and dried for future con- 
sumption. 
During the spawning-season, at which time the 
Zope, as we have mentioned, approaches the shore and 
ascends into the shallows, it is taken in traps ( ryssjor , 
see p. 33, fig. 7), nets, and seines hauled from the shore, 
where the bottom admits of this operation. It is occa^ 
sionally speared by accident. Late in autumn it is 
sometimes caught in a kind of seine shot in deep water, 
the hauls being always large, if made at the right 
place, as the fish have now assembled in their winter- 
quarters. The Zope may also be taken with rod and 
line baited with a common earthworm. 
On the south coast of Lake Malar throughout its 
length the Zope is called Fame or Fana, in the central 
and western parts of the lake Faren, and in the neigh- 
bourhood of Upsala, according to Lilljeborg, Vimma. 
In Lake Wener, according to Lloyd, it bears the name 
of Ldngstjert (Longtail) or, according to Widegren, 
Langhala (Norw. Hale = stjert). But it is often con- 
founded by the fishermen with White Bream and young 
Bream, being included with these under the names 
quoted by Artedi and Linnaeus, Blecka ( Blicka ), Bra- 
xenpcmka , Braxenflia (Braxenflira). In order to pre- 
clude the error into which he had himself been be- 
trayed by the name of Faren , Ekstrom preferred to 
use FUra. 
(Ekstrom, Smitt.) 
Genus PELECUS. 
Beginning of the short dorsal fin situated vertically above that of the long anal fin , and the base of the former 
less than 1 J i of that of the latter. Dorsal musculature extending forward across the inter orbital space. Lateral 
line bent sharply downwards behind the pectoral fins , and in the posterior part of its course undulating , or even 
externally interrupted. Scales like those of the Bleak, but with the nucleus situated in the posterior half . Mouth 
sharply ascending , and the tip of the lower jaw projecting. 
Among the Cyprinoids to which the Scandinavian 
fauna can lay claim, this genus is in several respects 
the most remarkable. With a form of body reminding 
us of the Herrings, it has several characters that range 
it beside the Bleaks, others again being Abramidine 
characters at their highest point of development. The 
characters of Alburnus may be seen in the form of the 
mouth, with the point of the lower jaw fitting into a 
sinus at the tip of the snout, the slender and prolong- 
ated pharyngeals, and the thin, comparatively deciduous 
