890 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
supporting ray, being here so developed that two 
simple rays may with ease be counted in these tins. 
The genus is strictly Arctic, belonging both to 
Asia and America; but just as the Huch, a species in- 
habiting the Danube, has its nearest relation, not to 
say identical species, in the Siberian Salmo fluviatilis, 
so in the basins of the Volga and Ural there lives a 
Stenodus hardly to be distinguished in species from 
the Siberian form, which in its turn seems to be 
identical with the American. However this question 
of species be determined, we are here interested 
only in 
THE NELMA OR SIBERIAN WHITE SALMON. 
STENODUS NELMA. 
Fig. 221- 
Fig. 221. 
Stenodus nelma , from the lower 
part 
of the Dwina. Taken by Lieutenant H. Sandeberg on the 29th Sept., 
1 4 of the natural size. 
1877. 
R . hr. (9)10; D. JLJL[i 4 _l6]; A. —^^ [(15)16-18(19)]; 
L. Icit. 88—109. 
Syn. (?) Salmo leucichthys , Gyldenstadt, Nov. Comm. Acad. Sc. Petrop., 
tom. XVI (1771 — 72), p. 533; cett. vide Smitt, Riksm. 
Salmonid., p. 207 ; adde Grimm, Fish., Hunt. Russ. Wat., 
pp. 12 et 20. 
Salmo Nelma , Pall., Russ. Reis., pt. II, p. 716; cett. vide 
Smitt, 1. c.; adde Grimm, 1. c. ; Lillj. (Stenodus), Sv., Norg. 
Fisk., vol. II, p. 698. 
(?) Salmo Mackenzii, Rich , Narr. Voy., Frankl. 1819 — 22, j 
App., p. 707; cett. vide Smitt, 1. c. 
(Joregonus dupeoides, Lillj., Vet.-Akad. Handl. 1850, p. 304; 
cett. vide Smitt, 1. c. 
The Nelma is a fish highly esteemed and much 
employed in Russia. As we have already mentioned, 
it probably belongs to the same species in South-eastern 
Russia as in the Arctic parts of that empire. The 
southern form — which is perhaps distinguished by a 
somewhat smaller head, less than V 5 of the length of 
the body — was named by Gyldenstadt Leucichthys, 
a translation of the Russian Bjelaja By biz a or Belori- 
bitza, the white fish, referring to its coloration. In the 
Arctic Ocean it lives like the Salmons, and at the end 
of winter, according to Pallas, ascends the rivers in 
multitudes. Pallas supposed it to be wanting in the 
Yenisei; but Nordenskiold’s Expedition of 1876 brought 
home tine specimens from that river. But most of the 
Royal Museum specimens are from the Dwina, where 
they were taken at Archangel by Lieutenant H. San- 
deberg; and to judge by these specimens it appears as 
if the spawning took place in spring or summer, for 
in those caught at the end of September" the genera- 
tive organs were extremely little developed. That it 
is as marked a predatory fish as the Grayling, was 
shown by one of these specimens, the stomach of which 
contained five but partially digested Roach. 
As Nilsson has remarked, it is by no means im- 
possible that the Nelma may sometimes rove from the 
Arctic Ocean to the fjords or rivers of Norwegian Fin- 
mark; but it has never yet been found there. Accord- 
ing to Grimm the annual take of nelma and leucichthys 
in European Russia amounts to about 100,000 pud 
(1,638,050 kilo.) and has a value of more than 1,200,000 
roubles (£*190,000). 
See Smitt, Rilcsm. Salmon ., lab. inetr. VIII. 
