35 2 



AMERICAN FISHES. 



Bay of Fundy and everywhere except in the muddy waters, such as those 

 of Cumberland Bay and the Basin of Minas. 



I have seen large individuals taken in midsummer in the pounds in 

 Vineyard Sound, and the capture of small individuals in these waters is 

 not unusual. They are often taken, according to De Kay, off New York, 

 in company with the Cod. In June, 1881, the schooner "Edward E. 

 Webster," of Gloucester, Solomon Jacobs, captain, returning from a 

 southern mackerel trip, fell in with a school of Pollock and captured sixty 

 thousand pounds of them in her purse seine. Its range, as now under- 

 stood, is in the Eastern Atlantic between the parallels 46 and 8o°, in the 

 Western Atlantic between 40 and 70 . That its southeastern limit is as 

 near the equator as the parallel of 36 seems quite improbable. 



Unlike the Cod and the Haddock, the Pollock is, to a great extent, a 

 surface-swimming species. The fishes of this species congregate together 

 in large schools, roaming from place to place in search of food. To a 

 certain extent they feed at the bottom, like Cod, but are more often seen 

 at the surface of the water, where they prey upon young fish of all kinds. 



Prof. Sars gives the following account of the manner in which they prey 

 upon little Codfish : 



"I was much interested to see how the Pollock caught the young Cod- 

 fish. It looked like a systematic chase, and it certainly looked as if the 

 Pollock were acting with a common and well-defined purpose. As far as 

 I could observe, the schools of Pollock surrounded the little Codfish on all 

 sides, making the circle constantly narrower until all the Codfish were 

 gathered in one lump, which they then, by a quick movement, chased up 

 to the surface of the water. The poor little fish now found themselves 

 attacked on all sides ; below, the voracious Pollock, which in their eager- 

 ness often leaped above the water ; and above, hundreds of screeching 

 sea-gulls, which, with wonderful voracity and precision, pounced down 

 upon the places where the Pollock showed themselves, to share the spoils 

 with them. The whole chase is carried on so rapidly, and the young fish 

 stay only so short a time at the surface of the water before they are scat- 

 tered in all directions with lightning-like rapidity, that it was not even 

 possible for me to see any, much less to catch any with my insufficient 

 implements."* 



On the coast of New England they are much disliked by the fishermen, 

 who claim that they consume great quantities of other fish much more 



* Report of the United States Fish Commission, Part 5, 1879, p. 593. Another vivid description of the 

 manner in which the Pollock feed upon the sand-eels, or lant, may be found on pp. 619 and 620. 



