LUMP SUCKER. 
297 
well as during youth, the height of the second dorsal 
tin is equal to the length of its base. The caudal tin 
is also slightly rounded or sometimes almost truncate: 
the middle rays are slightly longer than the outermost 
branched rays, their length, which relatively decreases 
with age, varying between 23 % (in young specimens) 
and 16 % (in old), or, by our measurements, exactly 
22'8 % and 16*2 % of the length of the body, or 71 % 
and 65 % (71*1 and 64'5 %) of the length of the head. 
The Baltic specimens are distinguished, however, by 
longer rays in this tin also, the length of the caudal 
tin at the middle in specimens 150 — 170 mm. long 
being about 18 % (18*1 — 18*4) of that of the body or 
66 % (65*6 — 65*8) of that of the head. In the caudal 
tin we may sometimes find 3 supporting rays above 
and below; but as a rule, only one of these rays can 
be distinguished at the top of the fin, and two at the 
bottom. Most of the nine true rays are simple during 
youth, and in old specimens the outermost ray on each 
side or on the one side is simple or at least indistinctly 
branched. All the rays in the second dorsal, anal and 
caudal fins are rough with small spines, but the mem- 
brane between the rays is smooth and, especially in 
the caudal fin, very ductile. 
Among the internal organs the intestinal canal is 
remarkable for its great length and the number of the 
pyloric appendages. The oesophagus is wide and straight, 
but the stomach curves forward and extends to the 
diaphragm, where the pylorus with its numerous appen- 
dages occupies the right side of the abdominal cavity, 
the liver lying chiefly to the left. The intestine itself 
lies in a number of coils, its length being considerably 
greater than that of the body. The urinary bladder, 
which lies at the termination of the abdominal cavity, be- 
hind the vent, is also remarkably large. During the spawn- 
ing-season the generative organs are considerably tumid. 
The coloration in the old specimens is bluish gray, 
darker (blackish gray) on the back, with large dark 
spots on the sides, and almost everywhere strewn with 
small black dots on the skin, most of the spines and 
plates being tipped with brown. During the spawning- 
season these colours are intensified, and the males are 
marked by their red belly, as shown in v. Wright’s 
two figures of old specimens (Plate XVI, figs, c? and 
?). “The iris is brassy yellow, with a dash of a darker 
tint,” says Ekstrom, “but when the fish has been out 
of the water for some length of time, the iris turns 
silver-white.” The living young specimens, in which, 
according to Mobius and Heincke", we find the live- 
liest play of colour, are thus described by Fries * 6 . “The 
whole fish is of a greenish yellow colour, thickly punc- 
tated with a. number of fine, dark dots, visible only 
under the magnifying-glass. A narrow, bluish stripe, 
with a silvery lustre, follows a somewhat winding course 
on each side from the point of the nostrils to the eye 
and thence across the sides of the head to the point 
of the gill-cover. In some specimens this stripe begins 
on the upper jaw. The eyes have an orange ring next 
the pupil, and the rest of the iris is very thickly punc- 
tated with dark brown, on a varying golden and silvery 
ground. All the fins are transparent, with the excep- 
tion of the anterior dorsal, which is of the ground- 
colour of the body, and in some specimens has a little 
silvery spot or similar transverse band near its point, 
and of the collar running from the pectoral fins, which 
is of a handsome flame-yellow colour, and in some spe- 
cimens crossed by a silvery transverse band. Sometimes, 
too, we find small silvery spots, inconstant in number 
and shape, at the base of the pectoral fins, beside the 
adhesive disk, and on the dorsal edge behind the pos- 
terior dorsal fin c , but their occurrence is only partial 
in some cases.” 
The difference in the coloration has given rise to 
different names for the sexes. In Scania, as in Den- 
mark, the male is called Stenbit (Stone-biter), the fe- 
male Qvabbso (Angler-sow), these names being also 
used, according to Malm, on Gaso in Bohuslan. In 
the north of Bohuslan, on the other hand, the female 
is said to be called Banka, a reminiscence of the Nor- 
wegian name for the species, Bogn-kal (Roe-fellow) for 
the male and Rogn-kexe (Roe-hag) for the female. In 
the Baltic the species is more commonly known as Sjn- 
rygg d , as we are told even by Artedi and Linnaeus, 
and also, in Gothland, Stainbdjtare (= Stenbit) and on 
Faro Snorfojbul (Snivel-fellow) and Stainbuck (Stone- 
buck), according to Lindstrom. We have thus every 
reason to suppose that the Lump Sucker has attracted 
considerable attention on the part of fishermen and 
a Fische dev Ostsee, p. 57. 
6 Vet.-Akad. Handl. 1838, p. 231. Of. Plate XVI, figg. juv., which are copied from v. Wright’s drawings executed for Fries. 
c See above, fig. 74, a. 
d Also Lumpfish , according to Ekstr6m. 
Scandinavian Fishes. 
38 
