500 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
THE COALFISH (sw. grasejen). 
GADUS VIRENS. 
Plate XXIV, fig. 4. 
Length of the base of the first anal fin more than half the distance between this fin and the tip of the snout. 
Lower jaw most prominent ( though sometimes only slightly ), its length being at least about 46 % of that of the 
head, but less than 13 % of that of the body. Distance between the tip of the snout and the hind extremity of the 
maxillary bones at most about 77 %, but at least about 72 %, of the length of the loiver jaw, and greater than 
the length of the ventral fins , which is less than twice the least depth of the tail, this depth being more than 36 % 
of the length of the loiver jaw, than 35 % of the base of the third dorsal fin or of the length of the pectoral fins, 
but less than 80 (76?) % of the least breadth of the interorbital space. Distance between the first dorsal fin and 
the tip of the snout at least about 30 % of the length of the body. Length of the snout more than 62% of that 
of the lower jaw, but less them 70 % of the postorbital length of the head. Length of the middle rays of the 
caudal fin less than 6fj t % of the length of the body. Lateral line only slightly and gradually curved 
and of a light colour. 
R. hr. 7; D. 12 — 14«j 19 — 24|l9 — 22; A. 23 — 27 * 6 |20 c — 23 ; 
P. 19 — 20 d ; V. 6; C. tu + 23—28+x; Vert. 54—55. 
Syn. Colfiscli, Belon, Nat., Div. Poiss. (1555) p. 128. 
Asellus niger, Carbonarius (p. 19) et Asellus virescens (p. 20), 
Schonev., lchth. Slesv. Hols. (1624). 
Gadus dorso tripterygio, ore iinberbi, maxilla inferiore longiore 
et linea laterali recta, Art., Gen., p. 20; Syn., p. 34. 
Gadus dorso tripterygio, ore iniberbi, dorso virescente, Lin., 
Fn. Suec., ed. I, p. Ill; Gron., Act Ups. 1742, p. 90. 
Gadus virens , Lin., Syst. Nat., ed. X, tom. I, p. 253; Asc., 
Icon. Rer. Nat., cah. Ill, tab. XXIII; Mull., Zool. Dan. 
Prodr., p. 42; Faber, Fische Isl., p. 99; Nilss., Prodr. 
Ichtli. Scand ., p. 43; Schagerstr., Physiogr. Sallsk. Tidskr., 
p. 301; Nilss., Skancl. Fn., Fisk., p. 559; Gthr, Cat. Brit. 
Mus., Fish., vol. IV, p. 339; Coll., Fork. Vid. Selsk. Christ. 
1874, Tilhegsh., p. Ill; ibid. 1879, No. 1, p. 66; N. Mag. 
Naturv. Christ., Bd, 29, p. 82; Malm ( Pollachius ), Gbgs, 
Boh. Fn., p. 488; Winth. (Gadus), Naturh. Tidskr. Kbhvu, 
ser. Ill, vol. XII, p. 31; Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., Irel., vol. I, 
p. 293, tab. LXXXIV ; Jord., Gilb., Bull. U. S. Nat, Mus., 
No. 16, p. 806; Mob., Hcke, Fisch. Osts., p. 79; Lillj., 
*S’y., Norg. Fn., Fisk., vol. II, p. 83. 
Gadus carbonarius , Lin., Syst. Nat., ed. X, tom. I, p. 254; 
Mull., 1. c., p. 43; Faber, 1. c., p. 96; Nilss., Proclr., 
p. 44; Schagerstr., 1. c.. Dek. ( Merlangus ), N. York Fn., 
part. IV, p. 287, tab. XLV, fig. 144; Kr., Danm. Fisk., 
vol. II, p. 102; Ekstr., v. Wright, (Gadus), Skand. Fisk., 
ed. I, p. 195, tab. 48; Thomps. (Merlangus), Nat. Hist. 
Irel., vol. IV, p. 183; Mor., Hist. Nat. Poiss. Fr., tom. Ill, 
p. 243; Br. Goode ( Pollachius ), Fisher ., Fishery Inclustr. 
U. S., Sect. I, p. 228, tab. 60. 
Colin , Duham., Tr. Pe'ch., part. II, sect. I, p. 125, tab. XXI, 
fig. 1 . 
Gadus purpureus , Mitch., Trans. Lit,, Phil. Soc. N. York, 
vol. I, p. 370; (?) Dek., 1. c., p. 286, tab. XLV, fig. 147; 
Storer ( Merlangus ), Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, Sc., n. ser., 
vol. VI, p. 358, tab. XXVIII, fig. 3. 
Gadus leptocephalus , Dek., 1. c. p. 288, tab. XLV, fig. 146. 
Obs. Even Faber (1. c.) suspected that the Linnaean species 
Gadus virens and G. carbonarius, distinguished originally by Schone- 
velde (1. c.), were merely different stages of growth of the same 
species, the younger Green Cod (virens) lighter in colour than the 
older Coalfish (carbonarius). Fries, however, to the best of our know- 
ledge, was the first (see the 1st Ed. of this work, p. 77) positively 
to maintain the correctness of this opinion. KrGyer (1. c.) has since 
given the fullest possible elucidation of this question. 
The Coalfish (Sw. Sej, or, as it is most frequently 
called, Grasej, to distinguish it from the next species,) 
even in Scandinavia attains a length of more than a 
metre 6 ; but the smaller specimens which are most com- 
mon in the island-belt of Bohuslan, are between 20 and 
30 cm. long. 
The body is of a handsome form, tapering at both 
ends, plump, somewhat compressed, and so deep that 
the greatest depth, which occurs at the end of the first 
dorsal fin, is between 1 / 5 and 1 / i of the total length of 
the body. The thickness, measured at the same point, 
is about half the depth. The least depth of the body, 
just in front of the caudal fin, is on an average only 
a Sometimes 15, according to Kr0yer. 
6 ,, 29, ,, „ Lilljeborg. 
c ,, 18, ,, ,, Ekstrom. 
d „ 21, ,, ,, Krgyer. 
e The largest specimen Malm obtained on the coast of Bohuslan was 1 1 1 / dm. long. The largest specimen that Kr0YER ever saw, 
was of the same length (44 Dan. inches). 
