58 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
THE SPANISH SEA-BREAM. 
SPAR US ERYTHRINUS. 
Fig. 15. 
Length of the snout more than 1 / 3 of the length of the head , its breadth more than 1 / 3 of the base of the anal 
fin , the length of which is, however, less than half the distance from the tip of the snout to the beginning of the 
dorsal fin, and also than 1 V 2 times the length of the lower jaw. Longitudinal diameter of the eye more than 3 / 4 
of the least depth of the tail, which is about 1 / 4 , or at any rate less than 3 / 10 of the length of the head or the 
greatest depth of the body. Occipital branches of the lateral line but slightly marked. Colouring of the body 
scarlet with golden and silver lustre, sometimes spotted with blue, in youth with rose-red transverse bands, whitish 
on the ventral sides. 
Fig. 15. Spanish Sea-Bream ( Sparus erythrinus ) from the Mediterranean. 
p',, natural size. 
R. hr. 6 ; D. A. P. 2 + 11 + 2 1 . 2 + 12 + 1 ; V. -; 
io y 5 
G. x + 1 5 4 - x\ L. tat. 60 a ; L. tr. — - + 1 b . 
1 4 
Syn. Eov&oiy.oq et EqvD-qlvoq Aristotle; Rubellio , Salvianus (sec. 
Artedi). 
Sparus totus rubens, Iride argentea, Art., Gen. Pise., p. 36; 
Syn., p. 59. 
Sparus erythrinus, Lin., Syst. Nat., ed. X, tom. I, p. 279; Risso 
( Pagrus ), Hist. Nat. Ear. Mer., vol. Ill, p. 361; Cuv., 
Val. ( Pagellus ), Hist. Nat. Poiss., vol. VI, p. 170, tab. 
150; Gthe, Brit. Mus. Cat., Fish., vol. I, p. 473; Steind., 
Stzber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, LVI, I (1867), p. 660; Winth., 
Zool. Dan., Fiske, p. 15, tab. Ill, fig. 3; Id., Naturh. 
Tidskr. Kbhvn, ser. 3, vol. XII (1879), p, 9; Lillj., Sv., 
Norg. Fn., Fisk., vol. I, p. 220. 
The Spanish Sea-Bream is one of the most common 
fishes in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic outside it, 
and as an article of food is by no means despised. Its 
ordinary size seems to be between 280 and 320 mm.: 
— according to Steindachner specimens 440 mm. and 
more in length are extremely rare in its true home. 
Just such a specimen, however, 460 mm. long, has once 
been taken within the limits of the Scandinavian Fauna, 
on the 4th of March, 1873, off the Skaw c . According to 
Duhamel it generally lives at a depth of from 50 to 60 
fathoms' 2 . As far north as the south and west coasts of 
England, according to Day", it is common, but off Scot- 
land and Holland it is rare. The catch at the Skaw must 
thus be considered only as a wandering stranger. 
a 56 — 60 according to Day, 60 — 61 according to Steindachner. 
Vertically from the insertion of the ventral fins. 
c Of. WlNTHER, 1. <;. 
a Traite des Peches , sect. IV, chap. II, p. 30. 
* Fish. G:t Brit., Irel., I, p. 41. 
