334 AMERICAN FISHES. 



have been observed about Ocracoke Inlet. The southern limit of this 

 species may safely be considered to be Cape Hatteras, in lat. 35 , 10'. 

 Along the coast of the Middle States, New England, and British North 

 America, and upon all the off-shore banks of this region, Cod are found 

 usually in great abundance during part of the year at least. They have 

 been observed also in the Gulf of Boothia, lat. 70 to 75 , and in the 

 southeastern part of Baffin's Land to the northward of Cumberland 

 Sound, and it is more than probable that they occur in the waters of the 

 Arctic Sea to the north of the American continent, or away round to 

 Behring's Straits. 



The Cod has been observed on the Western coast of Greenland. In the 

 North Atlantic the range of the species extends to Iceland and Spitzber- 

 gen, lat. So° ; along the arctic coast of Europe, as far as Eastern Fin- 

 mark, and probably round to Siberia ; while southward it ranges at least 

 to Brittany. Its southern limit is probably near the Bay of Biscay, lat. 

 40 , although Yarrell states that it is found south to Gibraltar. It does 

 not enter the Mediterranean, but penetrates into the Baltic to the coast of 

 Western Russia. Its distribution in the North Pacific is not so well 

 understood, though it appears to occur in the same abundance on all the 

 off-shore banks of this region, and also close to the coasts to the north of 

 the Straits of Fuca. According to Jordan, there is said to be a cod bank 

 outside of the mouth of the Columbia, but the species at present is of no 

 economic importance south of Alaska. 



The Cod, like most other species which migrate to and from the shore 

 instead of northward and southward, is, doubtless, more dependent upon 

 temperature conditions than fishes like the menhaden and the blue-fish, 

 and, Mr. Earll has suggested, the abundance of food doubtless has much 

 more influence upon its movements. We cannot doubt, however, that 

 the Cod moves periodically to and from the shore as a direct result of 

 the seasonal changes of temperature. The Cod prefers a temperature of 

 from 35 to 42 ° Fahr., approximately, and this it secures in a temperate 

 climate, such as that of Southern New England, by remaining on the off- 

 shore banks in fifteen to thirty fathoms of water, coming into the shallows 

 in winter. On the coasts of Labrador, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and 

 Eastern Maine, moving to and from the shore from deeper to shallower 

 water and vice versa to secure at different seasons of the year a tempera- 

 ture environment best suited to their needs, they are near the shore in 

 summer and in deep water in winter. 



