60 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
When full-grown, the Sea-Bream is the largest 
species within the group Pagettus. The specimen taken 
at Helsingborg and described by Schagerstrom (1. c.), 
was 458 mm. long and weighed about \ 1 / i kgm; and 
Steindachner asserts that he has several times seen in the 
fish-markets of Spain specimens 630 mm. and upwards 
in length. The deep form of the body, the depth being 
about one-third of the length (excluding the caudal fin) 
is about equally curved on the back and the belly, 
except at the head, where the downward slope is gener- 
ally more abrupt than the upward curve of the inferior 
margin. The greatest thickness of the body is about 
v 7 of the length to the end of the middle caudal rays, 
is situated near the articulation of the preoperculum 
and is equal to the height of this bone measured from 
the articulation to the point in the hind margin where 
the suture between the snboperculuin and interoper- 
culum meets it. The length of the head is 28 or 29 
% of the length of the body. The eyes are large, their 
diameter being greater than the distance between them 
and the corners of the mouth, but in adult specimens 
it is equal to or a little less than the breadth of the 
forehead. Of the two nostrils on each side of the snout 
the anterior is round and situated at about the middle 
point in the length of the snout or a little behind it, 
the posterior oblong and vertical, situated almost on a 
level with the corner of the mouth. The incisors on 
the jaws are pointed, and larger on the intermaxillaries 
than on the mandible (fig. 16, a); they form a fairly 
crowded card, which is continued posteriorly by the 
two or three (on the intermaxillaries sometimes several) 
rows of comparatively small, round molars. The oper- 
culum is high, but its breadth is less than the dia- 
meter of the eye. Of the two occipital branches of 
the lateral line the posterior is sharply marked as 
a scaleless, transverse groove, while the anterior forms 
the boundary between the occiput and the scaly cover- 
ing of the body. Between them is a patch, generally 
crescent-shaped, of three or four rows of scales. The 
lateral line runs fairly parallel to the dorsal edge. In its 
scales, as in the Black Sea-Bream, appear one or (seldom) 
two lateral pores above and below the middle pore. 
The scales of the body are mostly slightly denticulated 
at the margin, but finely and beautifully granulated 
on the surface. The length of the pectoral fins is about 
equal to the length of the head or twice the length of 
the ventral fins. The base of the dorsal fin, which 
lies in a well developed fin-groove, occupies about half 
the length of the body or a little less (excluding the 
flaps of the caudal fin). The base of the anal fin is 
about 2 / 5 of that of the dorsal. The last ray, like that 
of the dorsal, is covered by a scaly dermal flap, the 
extreme continuation of the fin-groove. The longest 
(third) spinous ray is about 2 / 3 (61 or 62 %) as long 
as the longest (fourth or fifth) spinous ray in the dorsal. 
The caudal fin is deeply forked; the length of its middle 
rays is in older specimens about 2 / 7 of the length of 
the upper fin-flap, which is always greater than that 
of the lower. 
The colouring is red, dashed with gray and, on 
the back, with brown. The sides have a golden and 
silver lustre, with dark, longitudinal lines along the 
middle of the rows of scales. The belly is nearly white. 
The fins are bright red, the ventral being palest, the 
soft-rayed part of the dorsal with a lighter margin. 
The black spot on the shoulder at the beginning of the 
lateral line is absent, according to Co u o u “ and Stein- 
dachner (1. c.) in young specimens for the first year, 
until they reach a length of from 7 to 9 inches. 
These small specimens without the spot, which are 
very common on the rocky coasts and in the harbours 
of Great Britain and are known by a special name 
(Chads), have never been found on the coasts of Sweden, 
and thus it is highly improbable that there is any pro- 
pagation of the species in our fauna. Adult specimens, 
however, from 35 to 46 eras, long, can scarcely be con- 
sidered as rare any longer. Since Schagerstrom de- 
scribed the specimen caught in March 1833, in the 
Sound off Helsingborg, Malm lias recorded the taking 
of 6 specimens in Bohuslan, and the Royal Museum lie- 
sides has recently received four specimens from the 
neighbourhood of Stromstad and Gullmaren. A similar 
number have been sent to the same museum, which 
were caught at a depth of from 100 to 250 fathoms 
in the deep-water channel off the south of Norway. To 
the last-named district it had already been assigned by 
Strom (1. c.) on the authority of the fishermen, who 
even had a separate name, BlanJce- Steen (Bright-stone), 
for this species. It has subsequently been met with on 
several occasions, especially often off Bergen, “both young 
and adult specimens ” b , and along the south coast from 
Christiania Fjord as far as north as Trondhjem Fjord. 
a Fish. Brit. Isl., vol. I, p. 238. 
b From this statement of Collett’s it would appear that this fish propagates its species off the coast of Norway. 
