198 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
of Rugen. It is also known from the extreme north 
of Norway and from Iceland to Spain and Portugal, 
and also in the Mediterranean and the Adriatic Sea. 
The surface of the bones of the head is adorned 
with numbers of tuberculated lines, which radiate from 
certain points. The nostrils are situated in a slit, 
covered with skin, between the preorbital and nasal 
bones; the anterior is small and round, with a some- 
what raised margin, the posterior larger, obliquely set 
and elongated. In the front part of the anterior margin 
of the eye are two or three sharp spines, and, in young 
specimens, a spine of equal size and also pointing in 
a backward direction, in the posterior part of this 
margin. Behind the eye, in young specimens in par- 
ticular, a sharply defined, spinous ridge runs along 
the temple at the side of the occiput, and ends in a 
thick, sharp spine, belonging to the posttemporal bone. 
Similar, but smaller spines, also appear in the lower 
part of the hind margin of the preoperculum. In 
young specimens there are also distinct occipital spines, 
corresponding to those which are so characteristic of 
the preceding genus. The operculum is tipped with 
two sharp spines, the lower being the longer. The 
clavicular bone, too, is armed with a strong spine just 
above the pectoral fin. The ventral fins are inserted 
below or a little behind the pectoral, and in adult spe- 
cimens are somewhat longer than the latter: in young 
specimens the reverse is sometimes the case. Of the 
three free rays of the pectoral fins the third is the 
longest and the first the shortest. When pressed close 
to the body, they are straight, but they form a geni- 
culate curve, with the points turned backwards, when 
they are extended forward in a downward direction. 
In the first dorsal fin, which is of about the same height 
as the body and twice as high as the second, the third 
ray is usually the thickest and but slightly shorter 
than the second; but the rest diminish in length so 
sharply that the fin slopes suddenly in its posterior 
part. According to Lilljeborg the length of the long- 
est rays in this fin, in adult specimens, is greater in 
the female than in the male, being about equal, in the 
former, to the distance from the tip of the snout to 
the hind margin of the orbit, and in the latter less 
than this distance". The total number of rays in both 
dorsal fins varies between 27 and 29. The vent is 
somewhat, though sometimes only very slightly, in front 
of the middle of the body. The stomach is large and 
triangular, with thin walls. The intestinal canal forms 
two curves and is furnished with 7 pyloric appendages. 
The liver is small, and consists of two lobes: in young 
specimens it is relatively larger and more completely 
divided. The air-bladder is large, simple posteriorly 
and divided anteriorly into two, short, terete lobes. 
In this fish, too, the coloration is very variable. 
Most often the upper part of the body is grayish 
yellow, strewn with bright, white dots, which below 
the lateral line sometimes unite into vermiform streaks, 
and the belly and lateral line white. In other speci- 
mens the white dots are surrounded by a small, black 
ring, which gives them the appearance of small ocelli. 
In others, again, there is no trace of these spots. 
Specimens also occur of a more or less dark, reddish 
brown colour, instead of the grayish yellow, and with 
the lateral line and the ventral sides strongly tinged 
with yellow. It is this colour-variety which we have 
represented in our figure, and which, if we are not 
mistaken, is rather a character of young specimens. 
The caudal, pectoral and dorsal fins adopt the colour 
of the body; the anterior of the latter pair is always 
the darker, and has a more or less distinct, blackish 
spot at the margin, between the third and fifth rays. 
The Grey Gurnard attains a length of from 350 
to 400 mm. 6 It is specimens of this size that are 
generally taken in Bohuslan. It lives at the same spots 
and in water of the same depth as the Haddock and 
Whiting, and is taken on the hook together with 
these fishes. According to Kroyer it is also occasion- 
ally taken by fishermen whiffing for Mackerel, even 
when the wind is so strong and the speed of the boat 
so great that the Mackerel does not bite readily. Ac- 
cording to Couch it is a gregarious fish, and sometimes 
(during the spawning-season?), in fine summer- weather, 
collects in large shoals at the surface and slowly rises 
and sinks in the water, crooning, as if with pleasure. 
“ Even if this sexual difference be restricted to specimens over 260 min. in length, there are many exceptions. Among the numerous 
measurements on which the appended table is based, we have found that a male of Trigla gurnarclus had one of the longest rays in the 
first dorsal fin and, at the same time, the shortest snout. Tillier (I. c.) has also failed to discover any constant external differences be- 
tween the sexes in this species. 
b According to Pennant (see Day) it may attain a length of 2 1 / 2 ft. (762 mm.). 
