SAPPHIRINE GURNARD. 
201 
Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. II, p. 202; Couch, Fish. Brit. Isl., 
vol. II, p. 21, tab. LXV ; Steind., Stzber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, 
LVI, i (1867), p. 683; Coll., Yid. Selsk. Forh. Christ., 1874, 
Tillsegsb., p. 37; Ltkn, Vid. Meddel. Naturli. For. Kbhvn, 
1876, p. 388; Malm, Gbgs, Boh. Fa., p. 398; Winther, 
Zool. Dan., Fislce, p. 13, tab. II, fig. 9; Id., Naturh. Tidskr., 
Kbhvn, ser. 3, vol. XII, p. 10; Coll., Vid. Selsk. Forh., 
Christ., 1879, No. 1, p. 15; Tilliek, Mem. Soc. Nat. Sc. 
Natur., Math., Cherbourg, tom. XXII (1879), p. 272; Day, 
Fish. Gt. Brit., Irel., part. I, p. 59, tab. XXIV; Lillj., Sv., 
Norg. Fislcar , vol. 1, p. 182; Mob., PIcke, Fisch., Osts., p. 50. 
Trigla loevis , Montagu, Mem. Wern. Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. II, 
p. 455. 
Trigla poeciloptera, Cuv., Val., 1. c., ja. 47; vide Steind. et 
Ltkn, 1. c. 
Trigla corax , Bonap., Fn. Ital., Pesci, £asc. X, p. 52, tab. 
94, fig. 1; Mor., Hist. Nat. Poiss., Fr., tom. II, p. 284. 
Trigla nigripes , Malm, Forh. Skand. Naturf. M., Stockh. 1863, 
p. 410; Gbgs , Boh. Fn., p. 403; Gbgs Nat. Hist. Mus. 
Arsber. Ill (1881), p. 22. 
Obs. As there can be no doubt as to the identity of WiL- 
lughby’s Lucerna Venetorum, and as Linn/eus has misapplied the name 
Hirundo — in his works the same species as Gurnardus — it is 
evident that, according to the current rules of nomenclature, this spe- 
cies should be called Trigla lucerna. Even in Bloch we find several 
remarks which clearly show that he has confounded this species with 
the preceding one; and should we refuse to recognise the specific 
Fig. 58. Trigla nigripes , taken on the 26th of August, 1872, off 
Marstrand. A. W. Malm. Magn. 3 diam. 
name lucerna , on the grounds that it has also been misapplied, Mon- 
tagu is the first post-Linnasan writer who has given the species an 
accurate name and definition. 
Malm’s Trigla ; nigripes has been referred by Collett and Lillje- 
borg to the preceding species, as a young specimen thereof. This 
opinion is borne out by the strange circumstance poiuted out by Malm 
himself, that he had never found the fry of Trigla gurnardus on the 
coast of Bohuslan, but, if his own later opinion be correct, had met 
with young specimens of the much rarer Trigla lucerna. Esmark, 
however, according to Collett, at a more recent date obtained in 
Christiania Fjord young specimens of the latter species, so small that 
we must assume that it also propagates in Scandinavian waters. Hence 
we must pay more attention to Malm’s reference to the number of 
Tays in the anal fin of Tr. nigripes, which is too small to apply to a 
Tr. gurnardus. By Mr. Stuxberg’s kind permission I have been enabled 
to examine two of Malm’s type-specimens, one of which is figured 
here (fig. 58), and to verify his statements as to the number of rays 
in the dorsal fins (9(8)! 16) and the anal fin (15), and of spinous plates 
at the margins of the dorsal fin-groove (23 — though in the anterior 
part two more are to be found, though only rudimentary), and also his 
observations as to the Cottoid characters which give this larval stage 
its especial interest. The question of species must remain undecided, 
however, until it has been shown that the number of rays cannot 
undergo during growth the requisite increase to admit of the inclusion 
of these young specimens in the preceding species, or that the spines 
which here mark the lateral line, as well as the two nasal spines, 
which also remind us of the Cotti, are evanescent, juvenile characters. 
These young specimens are further distinguished by 6 large mueiferous 
pores beneath the eye, arranged in a row from the snout along the 
cheek and superiorly bounded by a raised bony ridge, which is con- 
tinued posteriorly in a curve to the upper preopercular spine. We 
find a corresponding structure to these mueiferous pores in the Cotti, 
e. g. in Cottus quadricornis ; but they appear with a still more strik- 
ing likeness in the genus Agonus of the following family. 
The Sapphirine Gurnard is principally distinguished 
from the preceding species by its weaker scales, deeper 
tail, longer snout and longer pectoral tins: the anal tin, 
as well as the second dorsal, on the other hand, is 
shorter and contains fewer rays. The base of the first 
dorsal tin is more than half the length of the base of 
these two tins; but its height is about the same as 
in the preceding species. The scales of the lateral 
line are scarcely apparent, but the lateral ducts into 
which the canal branches, in young specimens at least, 
are all the more distinctly visible. These ducts are 
generally four in number, at least in the anterior 
part of the line, two running upwards and two down- 
wards from the main duct in each scale. The least 
depth of the tail is at least 15 % of the length of 
the head, which is about equal to the length of the 
base of the anal fin, or even exceeds it. The length 
of the snout, which in old specimens is more than half 
that of the head, even in young specimens measures more 
than 45 % of the length of the base of the anal fin. 
The length of the pectoral fins is always greater than 
that of the Ventral, and their middle rays are triply 
bifid, a character remarked even by Willughby. An- 
other distinction between this species and the pre- 
ceding one lies in the granular stria, tion of the large 
suborbital bone (the cheek). These raised striae, which 
here, as on the other external bones of the head, radiate 
from a centre, have this centre set so low down that, 
as a rule, no striae (probably in young specimens only) 
run downwards therefrom; but one or two striae, which 
are thicker than the rest, run up from this point towards 
the lower, anterior corner of the orbit, and another, 
rising into a sharp edge, runs straight backwards and is 
continued on the surface of the preoperculum out to the 
superior marginal spine at the corner of this bone. 
The coloration of the Sapphirine Gurnard is far 
more remarkable than that of the preceding species. 
The back, according to Krgyer, is usually red (seldom 
grayish) with a dash of brown or green, and the sides 
a lighter orange with a. more or less distinct, golden 
Scandinavian Fishes. 
26 
