238 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
Blue Sea-cat the length of the head is less, in the two 
preceding species greater than the greatest depth of 
the body, loses its validity. The same remark applies 
to the character which might else be derived from the 
greater breadth of the interorbital space in An. minor 
and An. denticulatus , which, as a rule, is more than 
v 5 of the length of the head, while in An. lupus it is 
less. But in the largest specimens of the latter species 
measured by Bean, the breadth of the interorbital space 
is nearly 25 % of the length of the head. In the dental 
equipment of the mouth, on the other hand, the Blue 
Sea-cat is always distinguished by the smaller and more 
pointed, or at all events conical, but more numerous 
palatine teeth. The palatine rows are also distinctly 
longer in every case than the vomerine row. In the 
specimen from which our figure is drawn, and which 
we have received from 'dad so by the kind co-operation 
of Mr. Sparre-Schneider — the largest specimen he 
had even seen — the row on the left palatine bone 
was 30 mm. long and contained 11 pointed teeth of 
fairly uniform size, while the vomerine row was only 
21 mm. long and contained 6 blunt molars, the first 
pair, however, being somewhat pointed. Another in- 
ternal character of this species which was first observed 
by Steenstrup, is the greater breadth of the top of 
the skull and the more spongeous nature of the frontal 
bones, in which respect the three species form a series, 
with An. minor in the middle. Steenstrup has also 
pointed out the singular form of the rays of the dorsal 
fin in the Blue Sea-cat. They are anteriorly convex 
and posteriorly concave, thus being sectionally crescent- 
shaped. The front ones, at least, are also extraordi- 
narily broad at the base; and Collett remarks that 
it is chiefly this circumstance, in conjunction with the 
thick envelope of adipose tissue, that causes the re- 
markable thickness of the dorsal fin throughout its 
base, which is so prominent in this species that the 
boundary between the dorsal fin and the body is almost 
imperceptible. 
In colour the Blue Sea-cat is an intermediate form 
between the two preceding species. It is without the 
transverse bands which are generally so distinct in the 
common Sea-cat, but the black spots which appear in 
the Spotted Sea-cat, are also present here, though only 
indistinctly visible on the dark brown ground-colour. 
The cavity of the mouth is for the most part grayish 
black (Collett); but in the specimen mentioned above 
both the anterior part of the mouth and the back wall 
of the gill-openings were pure white. 
The most important distinction between this spe- 
cies and the two preceding ones, however, is of eco- 
nomical nature. “In the quality of the flesh,” says 
Sparre-Schneider, “it differs considerably from its 
kindred species: even the Russians regard it as un- 
eatable, and most of the specimens taken are therefore 
thrown away at once, though I have seen a few flayed 
and hung up to dry.” In Iceland the Bldgoma (Steenstr., 
Vid. Meddel., 1. c„ p. 164) enjoys no greater esteem; 
and it therefore seems highly probable that the fisher- 
men of the North distinguished between three species 
of Sea-cat, two edible and one inedible, long before 
the zoological determination was made. 
The Blue Sea-cat occurs on the coasts of Green- 
land and Iceland, as well as in Norwegian Finmark. 
In the more southern parts of Scandinavia it is un- 
known. It attains a length of about 11 dm. Our 
specimen was 1,105 mm. long. Its home is the same 
as that of the preceding species — at all events it is 
taken among them in deep water : but the difference 
in its dentition undoubtedly indicates that its food is 
also in some way different. Sparre-Schneider found 
in the stomach of all the specimens which he examined, 
nothing but the offal of Codfish, which he supposed 
had been thrown overboard by fishermen who had gutted 
their catch at sea. 
