124 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
Qvart. 2, p. 98; Id., Fn. Suec. Lin., p. 361; Fabek (Zeus), 
Fische Isl., p. 132; Njlss. ( Lnmpris ), Prodr. Ichth. Scand., 
p. 70; Cuv., Val., ]. c.; Krdy., Damn. Fislce, vol. I, p. 
280; Ekstr., Gbgs Vet., Vitt. Samh. Handl. Ny Tidsf., I, 
p. 37; Lilljeb., Vet.-Akad. Handl. 1850, p. 333; Malm, 
Ofvers. Vet.-Akad. Forh. 1852, p. 229; Nilss., Skand. Fn., 
Fisk., p. 156; Esm., Forli. Skand. Naturf. Mode, Christ. 
1868, p. 522; Coll., Vid. Selsk. Forh. Christ. 1874, Til- 
lasgsh., p. 48; 1879, p. 31; Winth., Naturli. Tidskr. Kbhvn, 
ser. 3, vol. XII, p. 15; Id., Zool. Dan., Fiske, p. 21, tab. 
IV, fig. 2; Jord., Gilb., Syn. Fish. N. Amer., Bull. U. S. 
Nat. Mus., No. 16, p. 453; Coll., N. Mag. f. Naturv. 
Christ., Bd 29 (1884), p. 59; Lilljeb., Sv., Norg. Fisk., 
vol. I, p. 315. 
Larnpris lauta , Lowe, Hist. Fish. Madeira, p. 27, tab. V. 
Obs. As the specific name employed by Gunnerus is the oldest 
binomial name of this species, according to the rules of custom it 
must be restored, though it is faulty in the same way as Sarda 
pelamis, the name recognised above, as in most modern writers, though 
Brunnich’s use of it was also due to a mistaken determination of the 
species. 
The specific character given above is a summary 
of a description which I have received in a letter from 
Mr. 0. T. Olsen of Grimsby, of the coloration of a j 
newly caught Opah which was brought to the above 
town in 1886. During life, or at least when uninjured 
and with the scales intact, however, the fish, according 
to Lowe’s (1. c., p. 31) and Schneider’s" descriptions, 
is red with a lustre of transparent silver thoughout 
the body; according to Schneider, too, the oval white 
spots do not occur in the living and uninjured fish, 
but first begin to appear when the scales drop off. 
Lowe, on the other hand, asserts that these spots appear 
more clearly and brightly through the scales, and de- 
scribes the silvery lustre as being most distinct on the 
raised folds of skin which form the grooves for the 
dorsal and anal tins, and on the rows of scales which 
occur between the rays of the caudal fin. Anteriorly, 
on the belly, he says, the white spots are sometimes 
united into curved, vermiform streaks. Other writers 
do not insist so strongly upon the red colour of the 
body, at least on the dorsal side; and the only speci- 
men which has been received by the Royal Museum, 
had lost most of its metallic lustre — even the white 
spots were extremely indistinct — and the upper half 
of the body was dark, almost velvety, blue-black. This 
specimen, which was caught in the Cattegat in August, 
1873, was, however, half decomposed when it arrived 
° See Collett, Christ. Vid. Selsk. Forh. 1879, No. 1, p. 32. 
b N. Mag. Naiurv. 1 884, p. 60. 
c Christ. Vid. Selsk. Forh. 1874, Tillsegsh. p. 49. 
,l Ostengraphia Piscium, Groningen 1822, p. 187, tab. Ill, fig. 
here, and thus could scarcely give any idea of the 
colouring of the fish during life. It is highly probable 
that the colour varies and that the red is part of its 
fine dress during the spawning-season; but all descrip- 
tions agree in setting the Opah among the most showi- 
ly-decked of fishes — “one of Neptune’s courtiers in 
full dress,” writes one of Buffon’s correspondents who 
is quoted by Lacepede. 
The body of the Opah seems to vary considerably 
in depth. Collett mentions 6 a specimen 109 cm. in 
length and 607 mm. in depth, i. e. the depth about 
56 % of the length, and another specimen 0 6 ft. in 
length and 2 ft. 4 in. in depth, i. e. the depth about 
39 % of the length. To judge by these statements, in 
the older specimens the body becomes considerably 
elongated with age, while the height of the dorsal fin 
and the length of the ventral fins, according to Va- 
lenciennes’ observation mentioned above, sink from 
more than 1 / 2 the length of the body to 1 / 4 or 7s 
of the same. The thickness of the body, according to 
Lilljeborg, is about 30 % of its depth. The length 
of the head, according to Collett, varies between 30 
% of the length of the body, in the smaller specimen 
mentioned above, and 24 %, in the larger one. The 
diameter of the eye, according to both Lowe and Lill- 
.teborg, is about V 5 the length of the head and 
about 72 the breadth of the interorbital space. The 
small oval nostrils, which are close to each other, are 
set on a level with the upper margin of' the eye and 
about half-way between the eye and the tip of the 
snout. The mouth is small in comparison with that 
of the Mackerels, but capable of some, though only 
slight, protrusion. The tongue is narrow, free and 
smooth, according to Lowe. In the skeleton the lingual 
bone is cartilaginous; but the basihyal bones are large 
and spongeous, the first pair being fairly long and 
sharply curved downwards — between their extremities 
is placed the huge, triangular, basibranchiostegal bone 
(Parker; uroliyal , Owen), which hangs down in a 
posterior direction. The number of branchiostegal rays 
is 6; but we must not forget to remark that not only 
Gunnerus among the old writers, but also Valenciennes, 
Kroyer and Barker d , the last both in the text and the 
figure, have given 7. Though there are two simple 
III, r. 
