448 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
THE WHIFF (sw. glashyaefven"). 
LEPIDORHOMBUS WHIFF. 
Fig. 115. 
Greatest depth of the body less than 40 %, total length of the head less than 25 %, length of the head behind 
the lower eye less than 14 %, maxillary bone of the eye side more than 10 %, maxillary bone of the blind side 
more than 9 %>, branches of the lower jaw more than 13 %, pectoral fin of the blind, side less than 7 %, base of 
the dorsal fin ( measured in a straight line) less than 75 %, its greatest height ( longest ray — about the 54th or 
55th ) less than 9 %, base of the anal fin less than 60 %, its greatest height ( about the 42nd ray) less than 9 %, 
distance between the anal fin and the tip of the snout more than 25 %, length, of the middle caudal rays mea- 
sured from the hind limit of the scales of the body less than 14'/ 2 %, greatest thickness of the body less than 
6 %>, of the length of the body. Length of the pectoral fin of the blind side less than that of the lower jaw, 
and the length of the middle caudal rays less than that of the loiver jaw, but more than l / 2 that of the head. 
Least depth of the tail more than 17 
R. hr. 7; D. 85 — 91; A. 67 — 75; P. sin. 11 1. 12, dextr. 
9 1. 10; V. 6; C. 2 + 13 + 2; Lin. lat. 110-125; Vert. 41. 
Syn. Whiff, Penn., Brit. Zool. (1776), III, p. 209; Pleuronectes 
whiff, Walb., Ichth. Art., Ill, p. 120; Jord., Goss (Lepiclo- 
rhombus), Rep. Comm. Fish., Fisher. 1886, p. 252. 
Pleuronectes megastoma, Donovan, Brit. Fisli., vol. Ill, pi. 51; 
Yarr. (Rhombus), Brit. Fish., ed. 2, vol. II, p. 342; Dub., 
Kor., Vet.-Akad. Hand!., 1844, p. 102; Nilss.. Skaiid. Fn., 
Fisk., p. 641; Gthr, Cat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. IV, p. 
411; Couch, Fish, Brit. Isl., vol. Ill, p. 167, tab. CLXIV; 
Coll. (Zeug opt eras), Forh. Vid. Selsk. Christ. 1874, Tilkegsh., 
p. 138; ibid. 1879, No. 1, p. 76; (Lepidorhombus), N. Mag. 
Naturv. Christ., Bd. 29 (1884), p. 100; Malm (Rhombus), 
Gbgs , Boh. Fn., p. 516; Moreau (Pleuronectes), Hist. Nat. 
Poiss. Fr., tom. Ill, p. 332; Day (Arnoglossus), Fish. Gt. 
Brit., Irel., vol. II, p. 21, tab. XCVIII; Lillj. (Zeugopterus), 
Sv., Norg. Fn., Fisk., vol. II, p. 341. 
Zeugopterus ? velivolans, Richards, in Yarr., Brit. Fish., ed. 
2, vol. II, suppl. 2, p. 1; Couch, 1. c., p. 163, tab. CLXIII. 
The Whiff attains a length of at least about 6 
dm. 6 The body is as elongated as that of the Pole, 
but far thinner, being so thin and transparent, accord- 
ing to v. Duben and Koren, that “when a fresh spe- 
cimen is held towards the light, the bones and viscera 
are distinctly visible.” The body is deepest somewhat 
behind the middle point of the distance between the 
tip of the snout and the beginning of the peduncle 
(tinless part) of the tail on the eye side, and in old 
specimens, more than 5 dm. long, measures rather less 
than half this distance, or about half the base of the 
dorsal tin, measured in a straight line. In younger 
specimens, up to a length of about 4 dm., this depth 
% of the greatest, depth of the body. 
is even relatively less, being not even equal to the di- 
stance between the tip of the snout and the end of the 
curved anterior part of the lateral line. This species 
is also recognisable at the first glance by the very pro- 
jecting tip of the lower jaw with its well-developed 
chin-knob, and by the comparatively long snout. The 
distance between the tip of the snout and the anterior 
margin of the lower orbit is equal to the longitudinal 
diameter of this orbit, which is by no means incon- 
siderable, or to the distance from the posterior margin 
thereof to the hind margin of the preoperculum. The 
length of the lower jaw is greater than that of the 
head behind the lower eye. The sides of the tip of 
the snout are remarkable for their unevenness, which 
is caused partly by the anterior (upper) end of the 
maxillary bone, and partly (on the eye side) by the 
outer (upper anterior) articular process of the palatine 
bone. Just behind the articulation of the maxillary 
bone, and protruding still more than in the true Bo- 
thoids, rises the lobate process of this bone that we 
have noticed above in the Turbot. When the mouth 
is closed, the tips of the nasal processes of the inter- 
maxillary bones form a swelling that gives the upper 
edge of the snout a depressed (concave) shape at the 
beginning of the dorsal fin. On the other hand, when 
the mouth is open, and the intermaxillary bones pro- 
truded, the profile of the snout is almost straight and 
runs in a straight line with the even slope (only slightly 
a Malm, 1. c. 
b Couch assumes that it attains a length of 23 or 24 in. (58 or 61 cm.). Thompson's largest specimen from Ireland was 23 1 / 2 
