SEA SCORPION. 
185 
table), narrow and of almost uniform breadth; they are 
set below the pectoral fins, and consist of one, short, 
spinous ray and three, longer, soft rays, the middle 
ray being generally the longest. The spinous ray, which 
is closely united to the first soft ray and hidden by the 
skin, may easily escape notice, but is mentioned even 
in Artedi. The anal fin contains from 11 to 14 rays, 
generally 12 or 13, which are similar to those of the 
second dorsal fin. The caudal tin is rounded and 
contains 11 or 12 rays, from 7 to 9 of the middle 
ones bifid at the tip. Behind the vent is a small, 
conical papilla, larger, as usual, in the male than in 
the female. 
The difference between the sexes is often so great 
that the fishermen of the middle portion of the island- 
belt on the east coast of Sweden regard them as two dis- 
tinct kinds of fishes. The male generally has a more slen- 
der body and higher fins, to which we may add the spi- 
nous scutes described above and the remarkable character 
which consists in the arming of the inside of the rays 
of the pectoral and ventral fins with a row of sharp 
teeth, beginning about half-way along the rays and con- 
tinued almost to the point. The female , on the other 
hand, usually has a more bulky body and shorter fins, 
especially the ventral (cf. the above table), while the 
scales of the body, as we have remarked above, are 
either wanting or, at least, are fewer and smaller: the 
teeth on the pectoral and ventral rays are also wanting. 
The difference between the sexes, hoAvever, is not con- 
fined to the form alone; there is a still more marked 
distinction between them in the coloration, which in the 
Sea Scorpion also varies considerably with age, the sea- 
son of the year and the environments of the fish. The 
coloration also changes suddenly when the fish is drawn 
out of the water, and it is hard for anyone who has 
not seen a new-caught Sea Scorpion during the spa wning- 
season, to realise the blending of brilliant colours which 
adorns this fish, in other respects so ill-favoured. Plate 
VIII, fig. 2 represents a male, fig. 3 a female, of this 
species", but in neither figure does their handsomest 
dress, that of the spawning-season, appear, but that 
which they generally wear in the Baltic. It is easy, 
however, to gain from these figures an idea of the co- 
louring in the spawning-season, when we remember that 
the colours then become deeper and purer and their 
boundaries more sharply defined. The red belly of the 
male, its most distinguishing point, acquires a bright 
red colour with a coppery lustre, forming a sharp con- 
trast to the silvery, drop-shaped spots. In the female 
yellow, shading into gold and with more distinct varie- 
gations, becomes the predominant colour. It must 
not be supposed, however, that all the spots and bands 
given in the figures are constant in number, form 
and position, for they vary considerably in all three 
respects. 
The digestive canal is made up of a short, but 
wide, oesophagus, which gradually widens into a muscu- 
lar stomach, the sac being very distinct. From 8 to 
10 appendages, of about the same length, are wreathed 
round the pylorus and extend to the end of the sto- 
mach. The intestine, which is very thin and fragile, 
forms three curves before it opens into the vent. The 
livei' strictly consists of one, large, thick lobe, which 
is situated on the left- side. It is yellowish brown 
in colour, and the gall-bladder is small. The spleen 
is small and chest-nut-brown. There is no trace of 
an air-bladder. The ovary is divided at- the point 
into two lobes with round corners, and contains, for 
some weeks previously to the depositing of the spawn, 
red eggs of the size of a grain of mustard. There 
are two testes, the right one being much the larger, 
of a yellowish white colour, marbled with more or 
less blackish blue. The urinary bladder is fairly large 
and also divided at the bottom into two lobes of dif- 
ferent size. 
The most common name of the Sea Scorpion among 
the fishermen of the Sound and the Cattegat is Ulk, but 
it has also many others among the islands of the Baltic, 
e. g. Skrabb, Vildkrdks-simpa (Wild-crow Cottus), Horn- 
skalle (Horn-head), Skinnskrabba (Skin Cottus), Skcilryta 
etc. It- lives only in salt- water, and is found on both 
sides of Scandinavia, from the extreme north of Norway 
down to the Sound, and then along the island-belt- of 
the Baltic at- least as far north as Uleaborg in Fin- 
land, according to Malmgren. As we have remarked 
above, however, it is in all respects most highly deve- 
loped in the Arctic seas, which must, therefore, be re- 
garded as its true home. It has long been known in 
Greenland and Spitzbergen. Pallas assigned it- to Si- 
beria-; but his statement was doubted until the Vega 
a These figures and EkstrSm’s description were published, as is known, long- before Gill (1. c.) published his observations on the sexual 
difference in the coloration. Cf. Day, 1. c. But even in Farricius (Fn. Groenl ., p. 156) we find: — “maris venter flavus, alboniaculatus.” 
Scandinavian Fishes. 
24 
