394 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
out over the caudal fin. The occipital branch (supra- 
temporal, Traquair) runs, as usual, upward and for- 
ward towards the beginning of the dorsal fin, and is 
simple in the great majority of cases, but sometimes 
(fig. 106) divides superiorly and sends out a small 
branch (sptr) in a backward direction. Here we have 
a trace of resemblance to the North American forms, 
which are distinguished by a more developed dorsal 
branch of the system of the lateral line. 
The dorsal fin begins on the blind side, as in the 
preceding species, but a little further forward, the first 
ray being inserted, in normal specimens, somewhat to 
the left of the posterior nostril of the blind side and 
in a line with the anterior margin of the pupil of the 
upper eye. It ends at a distance from the caudal fin 
about equal to V 3 of the postorbital length of the head, 
and its base occupies as a rule about 84 — 86 % (some- 
times as much as 88 %) of the length of the body to 
the base of the caudal fin. Its greatest height, situated 
generally between the 30th and 40th rays from the 
beginning (on an average at the 36th), is about 12 — 15 
% (on an average 14 % and sometimes nearly 16 %) of 
the length of the body minus the caudal fin. All the 
rays are simple. The anal fin, which is of the same 
shape as the dorsal, begins below the insertion of the 
pectoral fins, at a distance from the tip of the snout 
that only seldom" attains or exceeds 40 % of the length 
of the body to the base of the caudal fin. Its greatest 
height, situated on an average at about the 20th ray 
from the beginning, is generally about the same as that 
of the dorsal fin, and the length of its base is never 
less than 60 % (sometimes as much as 68 %) of the 
length of the body minus the caudal fin. The pectoral 
fins, which are inserted just below the hind point of 
the operculum, are rather obtuse and oval, and contain 
10 — -12 rays on the eye side, 9 — 11 on the blind side. 
On the eye side the uppermost 2 — 4 rays and the low- 
est one or two are simple, which is generally the case 
with all the rays, or at least most of them, the middle 
ones excepted, on the blind side. The other rays are 
branched. The first ray is not half so long as the se- 
cond, and the third or fourth ray is the longest. The 
ordinary length of the pectoral fin of the eye side in 
the males is between 13 and 15 % of the length of the 
body minus the caudal fin, in the females between 10 
“To the best of our knowledge only in young and very lar 
of the length mentioned. 
6 Sometimes 13, seldom 12 or even 16. 
and 12 96 thereof: on the blind side this proportion is 
about 1 1 % in the males and about 9 % in the females. 
The ventral fins are more pointed, almost equal in size, 
and fairly alike in both sexes. They contain 6 simple 
rays, and their length is about 10 or 11 % (sometimes 
8 or 12 %) of the length of the body to the base of 
the caudal fin. The caudal fin, the median length of 
which varies between 20 and 26V 2 % of that of the 
rest of the body, is obtusely rounded and generally 
contains 14 branched rays * * 6 , and 3 simple supporting 
rays above and below. The vent lies a little to the 
blind side. The spine at the beginning of the anal fin 
may sometimes be hidden, especially in large speci- 
mens, by the skin. 
The internal organs are in all essential points the 
same as those of the preceding species. The length of 
the abdominal cavity is 1 / fi or l / 7 of that of the body. 
At the boundary between the stomach and the intestine, 
at the upper part of the hind wall of the abdominal 
cavity, we generally find 2 or 3 short pyloric append- 
ages, and further down the intestine is furnished with 
another similar, but somewhat shorter appendage. The 
intestine forms only 2 coils, the one within the other, 
and enters only a short distance into the secondary 
abdominal cavity of the eye side. Both the secondary 
abdominal cavities seem, however, to attain the same 
length as in the preceding species. In the males they 
are, as usual, but little developed. 
The coloration, with the red spots, which are half 
the size of the eyes or somewhat larger, but have a dark 
or sometimes light border, which renders them as large 
as the eyes or even larger, is olive-brown or chestnut, 
but varies as in all the Flounders, being lighter in young 
specimens — in very young ones light gray, resembling 
the colour of sand or gravel — and in old specimens 
usually darker. The arrangement of the spots seems 
generally to be irregular; but in most cases they lie 
in longitudinal rows. At least one of these rows runs 
parallel to the dorsal fin and one to the anal, at their 
bases, and in young specimens there are five or six spots 
in the row along the base of the dorsal fin, and four or 
five along that of the anal. The blind side is white, but 
in large specimens generally marked with scattered, red 
or brown spots. The tips of the rays in the dorsal and 
anal fins are also white; and the pectoral and ventral 
(overgrown) specimens. As a rule this distance measures 34 — 38 % 
