186 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
Expedition a brought home specimens from the northern- 
most parts of that region. It also occurs to the south, 
though it is there “degenerate”, as far as the west 
coast of France, and on the American coast as far as 
New York. 
This species is one of those that may be called 
migratory. It moves from one place to another along 
the coast of the sea which it inhabits, occurring in con- 
siderable quantities at a certain spot for some years 
and then suddenly diminishing in number, not to re- 
appear in any abundance until after the lapse of ten 
or twenty years. It occurs in water of no great depth, 
where the bottom consists of clay or stones overgrown 
with seaweed. Except during the spawning-season it 
leads a solitary life and always keeps close to the bot- 
tom. It passes the hours of daylight in dark crevices, 
awaiting the approach of some victim. It is due to its 
sluggish disposition that it spends the greater part of 
its existence in idleness and solitude. Rashness and 
voracity are the other chief traits of its character. In 
the latter respect it is surpassed by few, if any, fishes. 
Three Roach, each nearly 100 mm. long, have been 
found in a Sea Scorpion 220 mm. in length. Its ti- 
midity is so slight that, when touched, it only makes 
a leisurely movement to avoid the object that has dis- 
turbed it, and soon stops, as still as if nothing had 
happened. If it is caught, as often happens at u torsTi- 
ning ” (fishing with hand-lines for Codlings), and then 
marked in a way sometimes employed by the fisher- 
men, by cutting away a part of one of its fins, and 
again dropped into the water, after a few minutes it is 
ready to take the same hook and submit to the same 
operation. Though so little sensitive, still it is not re- 
markably tenacious of life. When drawn out of the 
water, it wriggles a few times in its efforts to get free, 
and, not succeeding in this, seems quite indifferent to 
its fate, seldom showing any marked sign of life, even 
though it is still alive. It seems to grow quickly, for 
small specimens are rare. In Sweden it probably does 
not propagate its species until it has attained a length 
of about 150 mm.; no smaller specimens, at least, oc- 
cur at the spawning-place. Its movements in the water 
are speedy but not prolonged, and the winding curves, 
like those of an Eel, in which its body moves, are ap- 
parently the result of considerable exertion. The great 
size of its fins does not contribute greatly to the speed 
of its movements, but seems rather intended to main- 
tain the equilibrium of its bulky and unwieldy body. 
Its food consists chiefly of other fishes, though, espe- 
cially in winter, when the supply of fish is scanty, it 
does not despise crustaceans, worms and mollusks. The 
spawning-season begins in December and lasts through 
the winter; but as early as the beginning of October 
these fishes begin in large shoals to approach those 
parts of the coast where the bottom consists of sand, 
here and there overgrown with seaweed. The males 
and females are then in company, but the former are 
so greatly in the minority that one scarcely finds one 
male to ten females. The latter come nearer shore 
than the males, which extremely seldom occur at the 
place where the roe is deposited. We might here find 
grounds for the conjecture that the roe is fertilized 
before its deposition, and that there is some closer 
commerce between the sexes out at sea. In this case 
the serrate teeth on the inside of the pectoral and vent- 
ral fins in the male would help it to retain the female 
during copulation. 
It is only the female of this species that is used 
for food by the poor, who prove the truth of the pro- 
verb: “the Cottus is the best of fishes, when there is 
no other to be got.” If carefully prepared, the flesh 
is eatable, but it always retains a rank flavour which 
is repulsive to most people. The liver, however, is 
one of the island delicacies, but if eaten in any quan- 
tity, its flavour is also unpleasant. The male is con- 
sidered poisonous by most of the islanders, and is there- 
fore not eaten: they never bring it home, but throw 
it back into the sea, as soon as caught. 
In the islands on the east coast this fish is some- 
times taken in nets really set for the Four-horned 
Cottus; and in autumn it is speared with leisters by 
torchlight. In consequence of the indifference to danger 
displayed by it, the sport is by no means difficult, 
and is a common pastime among young people. If 
the fisherman misses the fish, it moves only a yard 
or two and stops again to await another blow. In 
winter it is also fished for with the Blank-mrok (bright 
hook), which exactly resembles that used for Perch. 
The fisherman chooses a spot in deep water, at the 
foot of rocks or precipitous shores where the bottom 
is stony. Bacon, meat, the eye of the Cottus or any- 
thing eatable whatever is used as bait, for the Sea 
Scorpion is no dainty feeder. As it always pays more 
attention to the quantity than to the quality of its food, 
Cf. Smitt, Catalogue of the Swedish Department of the Fisheries Exhibition in London 1883, p. 174. 
