TADPOLE FISH. 
ore cirrato, pinriis omnibus setaceis, StrOm, Sondm. flesh’., 
part. I, p. 323; Trifurcated Hake , Penn., Brit. Zool. (1776), 
tom. Ill, p. 172, tab. XXXII. 
Blennius raninus, Lin. (p. p.), Syst. A r at., ed. X, tom. I, p. 
258; Fn. Suec., ed. II, p. 113; Mule., Zool. Dan. Prodr., 
p. 43; Buunn ( Gad us ), Vid. Selsk. Skr. Kbhvn. part. XII 
(1777), p. 291 (cum 2 tab.); Mull., Zool. Dun., vol. II 
(1788), p. G, tab. XLV; Cuv. ( Runiceps ), Regn. Anim., ed. I, 
tom. II, p. 217; Coll., Forh. Vid. Selsk. Christ., 1874, 
Tilltegsh., p. 125; Malm, Gigs, Boh. Fn., p.498; Winth., 
Natnrh. Tidskr. Kb'hvn, ser. 3, vol. XII, p. 34; Day, Fish. 
Gt. Bril., Irel., vol. I, p. 320, tab. XC, fig. 1; Mob., Hcice, 
Fiscli. Osts., p. 84; Lillj., Sv., Norg. Fisk., vol. II, p. 195; 
Hansen, Zool. Dan., Fiske, p. 87, tab. X, fig. 6. 
Blennius fuscus, Mull., Zool. Dan. Prodr., p. 43 (ex Strom); 
Kh. ( Raniceps ), Damn. Fiske , vol. II, p. 231. 
Gadus fuliginosiis, Walb., Schr. Ges. Nat Fr. Berl., vol. V 
(1784), p. 107. 
Gadus raninus, var. a, trifurcus, Walb., lchthyol. Art., part. 
Ill, p. 139 (ex Penn.); Blennius trifurcatus, Suaw., Gen. 
Zool., vol. IV, part. I, p. 174 (ex Penn.); Gthr {Raniceps), 
Gat. Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. IV, p. 367 ; Mor., Hist. Nat. 
Poiss. Fr., tom. Ill, p. 275. 
Gadus minimus, Walb., lchthyol. Art., part. Ill, p. 143 (ex 
Jagone). 
Batracocephalus blennioid.es, Hollb., Gbgs. Wett., Witt. Samir, 
n. Hand!., part. Ill (1819), p. 39 cum tab. 
Raniceps niger, Nilss., Prodr. lchthyol. Scand., p. 50; Scha- 
Gerstr., Physiogr. Sallsk. Tidskr., p, 310; Fr., Ekstr., Slcand. 
Fisk., ed. I, p. 92, tab. 21 ; Nilss., Skaml. Fn., Fisk., p. 594. 
Obs. Linnleus’s diagnosis evidently refers to this species; but 
by some mistake or other he stated that the fish was a fresh-water 
species that lived in the lakes of southern Sweden, and was there 
known by names which show that he confused it with the Burbot. 
StrOm suspected and Brunnicii corrected this mistake. 
The Tadpole Fish (Sw. Paddtorsh — Toad Cod) 
does not attain any considerable size, being generally 
between 20 and 25 cm., and at most 30 cm. long. 
When seen from above the body is of a marked wedge- 
shape, tapering in the hind part, which thus forms a 
sharp contrast to the roundish, broad, depressed head. 
The body is deepest across the belly at the beginning 
of the second dorsal fin, from which point it tapers 
more rapidly, though only gradually, towards the tail, 
and more imperceptibly towards the head. However, 
as the width of the belly depends, as usual, to a great 
extent on the quantity of food it contains, or the tu- 
midity of the organs of generation, it is usually safer 
to measure the depth of the body at the beginning of 
the anal fin, though this is not the deepest point. We 
have found the latter depth to measure in young spe- 
cimens (between 6 and 6 V 2 cm. long) about 14 % of 
the length of the body, and in older specimens (be- 
tween 1172 and 28 1 / 3 cm. long) about 18 — 21 % of 
this length. The depth of the tail at the ends of the 
second dorsal and the anal tins — where scarcely any 
55 9 
tinless space is to be found in most specimens — mea- 
sures about 4 — 4 1 / 2 % of the length of the body, and 
is always less than the longitudinal diameter of the 
eyes. During the life-time of the fish the back and 
the top of the head form a slight and regular convexity, 
overtopped by the eyes, which are rather prominent. 
The head is broader than the body, its greatest 
breadth in young specimens being about 2 / 3 , in old 
ones about 4 / 5 of its own length, which in the former 
measures about 26 or 27 %, in the latter 28 — 30 % of 
the total length of the body, or respectively 29 — 31 % 
and 32 — 33 % of the length of the body excluding the 
caudal fin. The eyes are fairly round, their length 
being only slightly greater than their depth, and their 
longitudinal diameter measuring 1 / 5 — \/ 6 of the length 
ot the head. They are turned upwards and set far 
apart, their longitudinal diameter being only from V 2 
to 2 / s of the least distance between them, which mea- 
sures between about 9 and 10 % of the length of the 
body or Vs °f that of the head. They are also set so 
far forward that the length of the snout varies between 
about 2 /g and 7 2 °f that of the head behind them. 
The snout is rounded and very broad, and projects 
some way beyond the margin of the upper jaw. The 
nostrils are set obliquely in front of the eyes and nearer 
to them than to the snout; the posterior is simply a 
round hole, the anterior raised at the margin into a 
tube open in front, or with a triangular flap at the 
hind margin. The lower jaw falls short of the upper 
in front, and is furnished with a very short barbel 
under the chin. The length of the branches of the 
lower jaw is about 157a — 16 Vs 0/0 °f that of the body. 
The gape is large and almost circular. When the mouth 
is open, the whole of the branchial arches and of the 
pharyngeals is visible. The upper jaw is then protruded 
only very slightly, but the corners of the mouth all 
the more distinctly. When the mouth is closed, both 
the maxillary bones retire below the labiate dermal 
fold formed by the lower margin of the snout, and the 
thick labial skin that forms the corners of the mouth 
falls into a deep groove above and behind the maxil- 
laries. The length of the upper jaw (from the tip of 
the snout to the hind extremity of the maxillary bones) 
increases with age from about 14 to nearly 17 % of 
that of the body. The tongue is thick, but short, carti- 
laginous, with truncate, rounded tip, the free part of 
which is sometimes hardly distinguishable. Both jaws 
are furnished with pointed, cardifonn teeth in dense, 
