540 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
THE GREAT FORKED BEARD (SW. BARTELN OR KUMRILLEN). 
PHYCIS BLENNOIDES. 
Plate XXV, fig. 2. 
First dorsal fin in adult specimens much higher than the second, the third or the fourth ray being elongated like 
a filament. Scales of the body so large that a transverse row from the first dorsal fin to the lateral line contains 
only 4 — 6 scales. Length of the lower jaw greater than the postorbital length of the head and more than half 
the total length thereof. Breadth of the inter orbited space less than 3 / 7 , least depth of the tail at most about 1 / s 
(34 %), of the length of the lower jaw. Length of the base of the anal fin less than the distance between this fin 
and the tip of the snout , and the distance between the insertion of the ventral fins and the beginning of the anal 
fin at least about 3 / 5 of the length of the base of the latter fin. Coloration above of a more or less light choco- 
late colour , below whitish with a dash of violet and on the belly nearly white. Vertical fins blackish at the margin, 
as well as nearly the whole surface of the pectoral fins. Ventral fins red. Branchial cavity and the posterior 
part of the pharynx, as well as the peritoneum, blackish. 
R. br. 7 ; I). 8 — 10|57 « — 63 ; A. 53 — 57 * 6 ; P. 15—19; V. 3; 
C. . £+15 — 18 +.v, Lin. lat. 105 — 108°; Vert. 50/ 
Syn. Barbus major ( Great forked Beard ) Jago apud Ray, Syn. 
Meth. Pise., p. 1G3, fig. 7; Penn. (Forked Hake), Brit. Zool., 
tom. Ill, p. 170 (ed. 1776), tab. XXXI. Merlu barbu, 
Duh., Peclies , part. II, sect. I, p. 147, tab. XXV, fig. 4. 
Gadus Blennoides, Brunn, Ichtb. Marsil., p. 24; Bl.-Schneid. 
(Phycis), 1. c.; Cuv., Regn. Anim., ed. I, tom. II, p. 217; 
Nilss., Prodr. Ichtliyol. Scand., p. 49; Gthr, Cat. Brit. Mus., 
vol. IV, p. 351; Steind., Stzber. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Math. 
Naturw. Cl., LVII i (1868), p. 708; Coll., Fork. Vid. Selsk. 
Christ. 1874, Tillaegsh., p. 114; ibid. 1879, No. 1, p. 67; 
N. Mag. Naturv. Christ., Bd. 29 (1884), p. 83; Malm, 
Gbgs , Boh. Fn., p. 490; Winth., Naturh. Tidskr. Kblivn, 
ser. 3, vol. XII, p. 32; Mor., Hist. Nat. Poiss. Fr., tom. 
Ill, p. 264; Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., Irel., vol. I, p. 303, 
tab. LXXXV, fig. 2; Storm, N. Vid. Selsk. Skr. (Trondhj.) 
1883, p. 35; Lillj., Sv., Norg. Fisk., vol. II, p. 156; 
Hansen, Zool. Dan., Fiske, p. 78, tab. IX, fig. 10. 
Gadus bif arcus, Walb. (ex Penn.), Ichth. Art., pt. Ill, p. 137. 
Gadus albidus, Gmel., (ex Brunn.) Syst. Nat. Lin., ed. XIII, 
p. 1171. 
Blennius gadoides , Lacei 1 ., Hist. Nat. Poiss., tom. II, p. 484. 
Physcis furcatus, Flmng, Brit. Anim., p. 193; Kr. ( Phycis ), 
Damn. Fiske, vol. I, p. 609, vol. II, p. 214; Malm, Gbgs 
Vet., Vitt. Samh. Handl., II. 2 (1851), p. Ill; Nilss., Skand. 
Fn., Fisk., p. 584; Thomps., Nat. Hist. Irel., vol. IV, p. 187. 
The maximum length of the Great Forked Beard 
is apparently between about 6 and 7 dm/ The body 
is comparatively deep and compressed — reminding us 
somewhat of Gadus luscus, though more elongated — 
especially in its hind part, where the depth is also 
seemingly increased by the loose skin which covers the 
bases of the dorsal and anal fins. In adult specimens 
the greatest breadth (thickness) of the body is only 
2 / 3 — V 2 of its depth at the beginning of the anal tin, 
and the thickness at the middle of the body, vertically 
above the middle of the base of the anal fin, is only 
about V 4 of the depth at the same point. In young 
specimens, however, we meet with different proportions, 
more resembling those which we have observed in the 
form of the body of the genera immediately preceding 
the present one. In specimens 18 cm. long (from the 
Mediterranean) the body is almost terete in front, and 
at the perpendicular from the middle of the base of 
the anal fin — where in young examples of this species 
we find a round black spot on the dorsal fin — the 
thickness is about x / 3 of the depth. In general (except 
in gravid females) the curves of the dorsal and ventral 
contours are the same, but at the occiput wo often find 
a perceptible depression, which may perhaps be ascribed 
to the violent contraction at death of the dorsal muscles. 
In adult specimens — with the exception of gravid fe- 
males — the greatest depth of the body occurs at the 
beginning of the first dorsal fin, and measures about 
21 % of the length of the body or a little more than 
(sometimes equal to, and in young specimens even less 
than) the depth at the beginning of the anal fin; and 
a Sometimes 54, according to Day. 
6 ,, 51, ,, ,, Lilljeborg. 
„ 58, „ ,, Day. 
c 112, according to Day. 
d 15 + 35, according to Malm. 
e In Trondhjem Fjord, according to Collett, Storm obtained a specimen 665 mm. long. Thompson mentions an Irish specimen 25 
in. (635 mm.) in length. 
