SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
532 
THE BURBOT (sw. laken). 
LOTTA LOTA. 
Plate XXVI, fig. 1. 
Body somewhat like that of Silurus; head compressed in front , anterior part, of the body terete , hind part com- 
pressed. Distance between the tip of the snout and the beginning of the first dorsal fin more than 31 % of the 
length of the body , length of the head less than 68 % of this distance. Breadth of the interorbital space more 
than 21 % of the total length of the head or than 40 % of the postorbital length thereof. Greatest breadth ( thick- 
ness) of the body more than 48 % of the length of the head or than 22 % of the distance between the anal fin 
and the tip of the snout. Coloration made up of black spots or mottled with black ( dark brown ) and in most 
cases confluent spots , on 
R. br. 7; D. 13°— 15(16) .74* — 79(85); A. 65 c — 75(78); 
P. 18 — 21 rf ; V. 6 — 8; C. .r + 20— 39 +.?; Vert. 58—62. 
A: forma vulgaris , pinriis pectoralibus lineam verticalem ex initio 
pinnee dorsalis primse attingentibus vel transientibus, longitudine 
13 / I00 longitndinis corporis totius superantibus. 
Syn. Gad us dorso dipterygio, ore cirrato, maxillis aequalibus, Art., 
Gen. Pise., p. 22; Syn. Pise., p. 38; Silurus, Id., Spec., 
p. 107; Lin., Fn. Suec., ed. I, p. 109. 
Gadus Lota , Lin.. Syst. A at., ed. X, tom. I, p. 255; Ketz., 
Fn. Suec. Lin., p. 322; Pall., Zoogr. R. Asiat., tom. Ill, 
p. 201; Cuv., R'egne Anim., ed. 2, tom. II, p. 333; Nilss., 
Prodr. Ichth. Scand., p. 47 ; Bdt, Rzbg, Medic. Zool., Bd. 
2, p. 52, tab. VII, fig. 2, tab. VIII, fig. 3; Ekstr., Vet.- 
Akad. Handl. 1834, p. 43; Reuter, Sundman {Lota), Finl. 
Fisk., fig. X. 
Lota vulgaris, Jen., Man. Brit. Vert. Anim., p. 448; Nordm., 
Voy. Russ. Mer. (Demidoff), p. 530; Kr., Danm. Fiske, 
vol. 2, p. 169; Sundev., Wright, Skand. Fisk., ed. I, p. 
170 (1845), tab. 41 (1842); Nilss., Skand. Fn., Fisk., p. 
580; Hckl., Kn., Siisswasserf. Ostreich. Mon., p. 313; G-thr, 
Cat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. IV, p. 359; Sieb., Siisswasserf. 
Mitteleur., p. 73; Lindstb., Goti. Fisk., Gotl. L. Husli. 
Sallsk. Arsber. 1866, p, 21 (sep.); Mgrn, Finl. Fislear (disp. 
Helsingfors), p. 31; Blanchard, Poiss. d. eau.v donees Fr., 
p. 272; Coll., Forh. Vid. Selsk. Christ. 1874, Tillsegsh., 
p. 115; ibid. 1879, No. 1, p. 67; Gigl., Espos. Intern. 
Pesea, Berlino 1880, Sez. ItaL, Cat., p. 97; Bncke, Fisch., 
Fischer., Fischz. O., W. Preuss., p. 89; Mor., Hist. Nat. 
Poiss. Fr., tom. Ill, p. 256; Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., Irel., 
vol. I, p. 308, tab. LXXXVII; Grimm, Fish., Hunt, on 
Russian Waters, Intern. Fish. Exhib. London 1883, p. 11; 
Norback, Handl. Fiskevard, Fiskafvel, p. 369, bild 109; 
Lillj., Sv., Norg. Fisk., vol. II, p. 147. 
Lota communis, Rapp, Fisch. Bodens., p. 36. 
Lota Linnei, Malm, Gbgs , Boh. Fn., p. 491. 
Lota maculosa, Mela, Vert. Fenn., p. 301, tab. IX,. 
B: forma maculosa, americana, pinn. peet. lin. vertical, ex init. p. 
dors. l:m£e haud attingentibus, longit. n /ioo longitudinis totius 
corporis haud superantibus. 
“ Sometimes 10 — 12, according to Kroyer and Gunther. 
b G7 — go 
V u ^ ° 1 11 11 11 11 11 
60, ,, „ Moreau. 
17 or 22, ,, ,, Kroyer and Sundevall. 
a yellowish green ground. 
Gadus Lota, Penn., Introd. Arct. Zool., ed. II, vol. I, p. 
CCXCVII. 
Gadus maculosus, Lesueur, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc., vol. I, p. 
83; Id. ( Molva ), Mem. Mus., vol. V, p. 159, tab. 16; Rich., 
Fn. Bor. Amer., Fish., p. 248; Bean {Lota), Fisher., Fish. 
Industr. U. S. (Br. Goode), sect. I, p. 235, tab. 61. 
Gadus compressus , Lesueur, ibid., p. 84; Storer {Lota), Mem. 
Amer. Acad. Arts., Sc., n. ser., vol. VI, p. 360, tab. XXVIII, 
fig. 4. 
Gadus lacustris, Mitch., Amer. Monthl. Magaz., vol. 2, p. 244; 
Ltkn {Lota), Vid. Meddel. Naturh. For. Kbhvn, 1881, p. 256. 
Molva huntia , Lesueur, Mem. Mus., vol. V, p. 161. 
Lota inornata, De Kay, N. York Fn., Fish., p. 283, tab. 
XLV, fig. 145. 
Lota brosmiana , Storer, Journ. Soc. Nat. Hist. Boston, vol. 
IV, p. 58, tab. V, fig. 1. 
Obs. The numerous specific names which the Burbot has borne 
in the system, are an expression of its variableness. In recent times, 
however, even the American writers have not only united all the as- 
sumed American species into one, but also adopted Gunther’s opinion 
and united this species to the European and Asiatic form. Lutken 
proposed, however, to restore the distinction between the two forms, 
on the grounds that in a specimen of the American Burbot examined 
by him the tips of the pectoral fins did not extend to a line with 
the beginning of the first dorsal fin, a character which also appears 
in the best figure of this form, Todd’s figure in Bean and Brown- 
Goode (1. c.). Whether this character is constant in the American 
Burbot, can hardly be decided from so few observations; but it may 
also occur in the Burbot of the Old World, as shown by a specimen 
9 dm. long, which was taken in the River Yenisei by NordenskiSld’s 
expedition on the 16th of September, 1875. In this specimen the 
tips of the pectoral fins fall far short of the perpendicular from the 
beginning of the first dorsal fin, this being due to the fact that the 
latter fin is situated extraordinarily far back, at a distance from the 
tip of the snout equal to 37 x / 2 % of the length of the body and more 
than 5 times the length of the base of this fin. This specimen dif- 
fers, however, both from the drawing mentioned above and from the 
measurements of the American Burbot given by Richardson (1. e.), 
in the fact that the pectoral fins are of the average length normal in 
cl 
