ANCHOVY. 
995 
ings of the skin in the preabdominal region, answering 
to the lateral processes of the spiniferous scales; and 
outside (below) each pelvic bone, just in front of the 
outermost (first) ray of the ventral tins, lies an extreme- 
ly thin, squamoid covering-bone, which sends out a 
wand-shaped process in the skin, extending about V 3 of 
the distance up the sides of the body, and corresponding 
to the ordinary double process that rises at this point 
in the Herrings (cf. p. 958, tig. 240, c). 
The coloration is essentially the same as in the 
Herrings, but is characterized by a steely longitudinal 
band on the upper part of the sides, forming a sharp 
line of demarcation between the back, which gleams 
chiefly with a greenish lustre, and the lower parts of 
the sides, which are silvery white. On the articular head 
of the operculum lies a dark, elliptical spot, the length 
of which is scarcely half the diameter of the eyes. 
The Anchovy’s range in the Atlantic coincides Avith 
that of the Pilchard". Its true habitat lies in the Mediter- 
ranean and the neighbouring part of the Atlantic, and 
hardly extends north of England and Holland, though 
numerous specimens have been taken in Christiania 
Fjord, and solitary individuals occur along the Nonve- 
gian coast up to Bergen. It also roves into the Cat- 
tegat and the Baltic, probably in the train of the Her- 
ring and Stromming, up to the island-belt of Stockholm, 
where Professor Hjalmar Holmgren took a female An- 
chovy about 18 cm. long * * 6 on the 15th of August, 1869. 
In the south-west of the Baltic it is caught somewhat 
more frequently — “though rare”, Avrote Schonevelde 
in 1624 — off Kiel (Mobius and Heincke) and Trave- 
mttnde (Lenz). On the north coast of Funen Feddersen 
obtained 7 specimens in the middle of June, and Pe- 
tersen caught 4 at the end of the year 1885. On the 
north coast of Zealand Kroyer saAv two Anchovies. In 
the Sound north of Saltholm Winther secured a speci- 
men 16 cm. long in June, 1870. The Royal Museum 
has received from Baron Gyllenstjerna a specimen 
17 cm. long, taken off Kullen in August, 1829. Burman 
sent two specimens that had been caught in Herring- 
nets off Stromstad in July, 1862, and the Museum has 
more recently received through Mr. C. A. Hansson tAvo 
more from the same locality. Malm mentions 4 speci- 
mens from Bohusl&n. The Anchovy, though rare, is 
thus not to be reckoned among the rarest fishes of the 
Cattegat and Skager Rack. In Christiania Fjord it is 
so common, according to Collett, that it appears every 
summer, at least in small numbers, at the fish-market 
of Christiania; and in August, 1873, Collett met Avith 
a considerable number, both large and small, in the 
fjord. In October, 1875, he found several specimens 
among common Herrings off Christiania, one of them 
nearly 19 cm. long, another only 68 mm., Avhence he 
infers that the Anchovy spawns in those waters. The 
adequacy of this evidence may, however, be questioned, 
if Ehrenbaum be correct in his opinion that Anchovies 
of the latter length may be in their second year and 
have passed one Avinter in the sea. 
That the Anchovy is outside the bounds of its true 
habitat, or at the northern limit thereof, on the coast 
of Holland — though it spawns there, and is sometimes 
extremely plentiful — appears from the great irregularity 
to be observed in its occurrence. Van Bemmelen re- 
lates, on Martinet’s authority 0 , that in 1765 or 1766 
fifty fishermen could not secure more than three An- 
chovies during the Avhole summer in the Zuyder Zee, 
though some years before the Zee had been “so full of 
Anchovies as to be almost unnavigable for smacks.” 
Plven so far south as in the English Channel it is far 
less common, according to Moreau, than in the Medi- 
terranean. 
From the large gape of the Anchovy and its other 
resemblances to the Greater Scopelus avc may conjecture 
that its manner of life is also much the same, and that 
it is strictly a pelagic fish-of-prey. But in quest of 
food and in order to spaAvn it approaches the coast, 
and for the former purpose it enters brackish or even 
fresh Avater. It is found both in the Zuyder Zee and 
the mouths of the Dutch rivers. The Seine it ascends, 
according to Valenciennes, up to Quillebeuf. It spaAvns 
in the Mediterranean, according to Risso, and on the 
coasts of Holland and Hanover, according to Hoffman'* 
and Ehrenbaum, in spring and early summer, from 
April till the beginning of July. This seems also to 
be the case on the English coast, to judge by an ob- 
servation of Mr. Jackson’s (Day), Avho took Anchovies 
a According to Gunther (1. c.) the Anchovy is found off Tasmania and New Zealand, in a variety distinguished by a somewhat 
greater number of rays in the anal fin. 
6 The specimen is so .greatly damaged that the length of the body cannot be stated exactly. 
0 Verh. Haarlem 1754 — 93, XI, pars 2, p. 236. 
d Verslag van den Staat der Nederlandsche Zeevisschereien over 1884 en 1886. 
