SPOTTED GUNNEL. 
223 
Strom, it bears the name of Tangbrosme (Seaweed- 
Brosmiusf! It occurs along the whole coast of Nor- 
way and Bolnislan, and also in the Cattegat, the Sound 
and the Baltic. Off Gothland, according to Li nostrum", 
it is fairly common. In 1856 the Royal Museum re- 
ceived from Baron A. Cedersteom a. specimen 155 mm. 
long, which had been taken off Beatelund in the island- 
belt of Stockholm. In 1863 Widegren found the Spotted 
o 
Gunnel in Alands Hal'd and according to Mela, it has 
also been taken on the coast of Nyland in the Gulf 
of Finland. Still, in the Baltic, it does not belong to 
the common fishes. It extends southwards as far as 
England and Ireland, and the northern part of the 
west coast of France. On the west of the Atlantic, it 
has been found in North America 0 ; and whether it is a 
distinct species from PlioUs fasciatus of Greenland and 
the Pacific species, Pholis ornatus, to which it is at 
least very nearly related, is a question that deserves 
more searching investigation. 
As the Spotted Gunnel always leads a solitary life 
at the bottom, among stones and seaweed, and is an 
adept at finding a hiding-place, it is not taken very 
frequently. It generally lives in shallow water and thus, 
on coasts where there is any perceptible rise and fall 
of the tide, it is often left behind at low water in the 
pools or among the seaweed. It is on such occasions 
that its capture is most easy. It is also taken fre- 
quently amongst other fishes in the seine. It is tena- 
cious of life to a very high degree, and can live fairly 
long out of the water. Its movements are extremely 
active, when attempt is made to catch it, but at other 
times slow and sinuous, at least in the daytime — at 
night it is said to move more briskly. It is seldom 
seen lying stretched at full length, but generally in 
more or less undulating curves, or even as it were 
folded round some object or in its retreat. This is 
the explanation of the fact that the Spotted Gunnel is 
often found hidden in empty mussel shells, in company 
with which it is fairly often drawn up from the bottom, 
especially during the oyster-fishery' 7 . It has therefore 
been accused of making its way into live oysters and 
devouring them 0 , but of this offence it is certainly 
quite innocent. Its food seems to consist chiefly of 
small crustaceans and mollusks, fragments of which 
have been found in its stomach. 
At the end of October the ovaries of the female 
are full, and the milt-sacs of the male distended, thus 
showing that the spawning-season occurs in that month, 
or soon after. The young specimen mentioned above 
as described by Malm, however, was taken in July; 
and similar catches are recorded by Kroner, who hence 
concludes that the spawning-season must be much later, 
unless, indeed, the growth of the fry is extraordinarily 
slow. It is not improbable that the spawning-season 
may last throughout the winter, and even extend into 
the early part of spring. A female, taken off Stromstad 
in November, still contained rather small eggs. 
As the Spotted Gunnel is of no service to the 
fishermen, they have no special method of catching it. 
(Fries, Smitt.) 
a Gotl . Fish ., Got!. Lans Hush. Sails. Arsber. I860, p. 15 (sep.). 
6 According to Malmgren, 1. c. 
c Jord., Gilb., 1. c. 
d Cf. Heyke, 1. c. 
? Cf. Kroyer, 1. c., p. 354. 
