14 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
male occasionally acquires the colouring’ of the male, 
a phenomenon which has not however been observed 
on the coast of Sweden. 
The Striped Wrasse occurs on all the coasts of 
Europe, with the exception of the shores of the Arctic 
Ocean and the Baltic. In Norway it is still found in 
the neighbourhood of Trondhjem, but how far north it 
goes, is unknown. In Finnmarken neither this nor any 
other species of the genus Labrus occurs, according to 
the investigations made in that district by Loven, Sun- 
devall, and others. On the Swedish coast it is found 
only in the island-belt of Bohusl&n, where it is by no 
means a common species. In the Sound and within the 
Baltic there is no authenticated instance of its occur- 
rence. In England and France, as well as in the whole 
of the Mediterranean, the species is by no means rare. 
In Iceland and Greenland it has not been found. 
The Striped Wrasse, like the rest of the genus, is 
a true Tockiish’, a only living near rocky or steep and 
stony coasts. On low, shelving, sandy coasts it is appa- 
rently never found. But even in the island-belt this 
species seems to be confined to certain fixed localities. 
In the whole district of Lysekil it is said to be found 
only among the islands known as Flatholmarne, where, 
together with the four other species of Swedish wrasses, 
it seems to have its favourite haunt near a little rock 
called ’ Snultreskdf (Wrasse Rock). According to Malm 
it is most common in Bohuslan on the islets known 
as V&deroar and Foster. 
In the summer the Striped Wrasse remains at a 
depth of from 5 to 10 fathoms among rocks and stones, 
but in winter it apparently moves to still greater depths. 
Fries and v. Wright at all events failed to obtain a 
single specimen during the cold season; and in Yarrell’s 
book on the fishes of England the same statement is 
made. It lives on shellfish and all other kinds of 
marine animals, especially crayfish. In the stomach 
of a female 300 mm. in length, which was caught on 
Snultresk&r, the islet we have just mentioned, and 
which Sundevall had the opportunity of observing 
in the month of July during life, he afterwards 
found remnants of several different crustaceans and an 
almost entire Portunus one inch in breadth, together 
with the scales, fins and bones of some small fishes. 
This specimen had very small ovaries containing only 
small and newly formed eggs, from which he inferred 
that the ovaries had already discharged their contents 
and that the spawning season must be earlier than mid- 
summer; but he failed to obtain any more exact infor- 
mation on this point. In Norway, on the other hand, 
Krgyer found the Striped Wrasse ready to spawn at 
the end of June or July; and Risso says that in the 
Mediterranean it spawns twice a year. In England Couch 
found females with the ova fully developed in April 
and May, and also in July and August. 6 
The flesh of the Striped Wrasse is firm and white 
and is said to be of tolerably good flavour, but like 
the other wrasses it is seldom eaten in Scandinavia. 
However, it takes a bait readily (cf. the remarks on the 
preceding species), and is occasionally caught in a net 
or seine, but on the Scandinavian coasts it is not sought 
after by the fishermen. 
In Bohusl&n as in Norway the male is called Bla- 
st al, or rather Blastral (Blue-stripe), the female Rcid- 
ncibba (Red-beak). In Norway the male is said to be 
also called Blaskal and Blastak. In Strom’s description 
of Sondmore the female is called Bergndbba (Rock-beak), 
and in Ascanius Suderndl ; Nilsson also gives the na- 
mes Bodsncicka (Red-shell) and Sypiga (Seamstress). 
(Sundevall, Smitt.) 
THE SMALL-MOUTHED WRASSE OR ROCK COOK (sw. gkassnultran.) 
LABRUS (CENTROLABRUS) EXOLETUS. 
Plate 1, fig. 3. 
Head naked above the eyes. Number of scales in the lateral line less than 40 (about 35). Not more than 4 rows of 
scales above the lateral line. Inter operculum half covered with scales , naked only at the margin and in the anterior part. 
Cheeks covered with large scales , with 4 suborbital roivs. 
1ft IQ A K O 
br - b ' D ■ A ■ - 7 ~ ; P • IT V ■ Vs; C.x+u+x; 
L. lat. 33 — 37. 
Syn. Labrus exoletus, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. X, p. 287 ; Nilsson, 
Prodr. Ichtli. Sc., p. 77; Fries et Wright, Skand. Fiskar, 
Number of spinous rays in the anal fin more than 3. 
ed. I, p. 48, tab. 9, fig. 2; Cuv., Val., ( Acantliolabrus ), 
Hist. Nat. Poiss., XIII, p. 247 ; Nilsson, Skand. Fn. Fisk., 
p. 277 ; Gunther, ( Centrolabrus ), Brit. Mus. Cat. Fish., IV, 
p. 92; Collett, ( Acantliolabrus ), Christ. Vid. Selsk. Forli. 
1874, Tillsegsh., p. 94; Id., ibid. 1879, n:r 1, p. 61; Malm 
a Sw. skarydrdsfi.sk. 
Finland, etc. Tr. 
b Day, 1. c., p. 258. 
Skcirgard is the Swedish name for the belt of small rocky islets which fringes the coasts of Norway, Bohuslan, 
