Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1999, Side 129

BRÓÐIR ORMSINS OG FISKAR SUM KONGAR
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been regarded as kings or leaders of fish
species that come in shoals, such as the her-
ring or the mackerel (cfi Olaus Magnus,
1925,21:8). Beside the designation ‘king’,
they have also been labelled with the suffix
-styrja, a word which in the Nordic coun-
tries is used for certain large-size or rare
fish, which were believed to escort or pro-
tect those species that periodically appear
in large shoals along the Atlantic coast
(Bernstrom, 1972: 404). Such views were
already being recorded in the early 17th
century. Friis (1881: 114) writes that the
Norwegians regard the rare, but apparently
well known, opah (Lampris guttatus) as
laksestørja [salmon leader] or laksekong
[salmon king]. It was said to lead the
salmon (Salmo salar) to the Norwegian
coast during springtime and back again
during the autumn. The opah was thought
to protect the salmon shoals from seals and
fish of prey that otherwise could hurt the
salmon. Along the Swedish West Coast,
the sturgeon (Acipenser sturio) was regard-
ed as a pilot for the salmon. Johan Oedman
(1746: 33) distinguishedbetween ‘... Laxe-
stor, which was as a king or superior
among the salmons, and captured in the
Gullmarsfjord, and the Macrille-Stor,
which is captured here and there in the
archipelago’. The likewise strange oarfish
(.Regalecus glesne), temporarily caught in
the Nordic Sea, was regarded as the leader
of the herring and, therefore, a sign for a
good haul if it was captured or observed
(Emby, 1985: 187). It got its Norwegian
names sildekonge, sildtust and sildstørje,
Icelandic name síldakóngur, and Faroese
names sildakongur and sildasterril, be-
cause it was also regarded as the leader of
the herring in those regions (Lilljeborg,
1891: 476; Jacobsen and Matras, 1961:
358).
Friis (1881: 91) tells us the same story
about the tuna fish (Thunnus thynnus),
which was regarded as the king of macker-
el (Scomber scombrus) shoals. By tradi-
tion, the Norwegians call the tuna fish,
makrellstørje [mackeral leader] (Anders-
son, 1942: 76). Also Swedish names exist
that suggest the same view. Zoologist Sven
Nilsson (1855: 153) says that the tuna fish
appears in the archipelago south of Gothen-
burg: ‘It is called Makrill-storja or Makrill-
storje there’. The ling (Molva molva) was
earlier named kungsál or álkung in Swe-
den, which might indicate a similar view
(Schagerstrom, 1838: 302). Horsemacker-
el (Trachurus trachurus) is a pelagic shoal
fish, which is distributed in the East At-
lantic from South Africa in the south to
central Norway in the north. In northern
Halland and in Bohuslan, horse mackerel
was called makrillkung [mackeral king]
(Komhall, 1968: 94; Emby, 1985: 109).
On the Swedish West Coast, large speci-
mens or representatives of mackerel with
an uncommon colour have been labelled
makrillkung (Emby, 1985: 31). InNorway,
the tub gunnard (Trigla lucerna) was some-
times called knurrkonge (Wollebæk, 1924:
201).
The same notion also exists about some
fresh water fish species. For instance, a
large perch (Perca fluviatilis) has been re-
garded as the leader for the perch in the
lake. In Uppland, such a perch was called
abborrkung (Ordbok over Sveriges dialek-