FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



239 



with about half a dozen yellowish bands. The 

 pectoral and ventral fins are of the same color as 

 the sides, and the ventral fins are sooty at their 

 tips. The most characteristic color mark is that 

 all three of the vertical fins (dorsal, caudal, and 

 anal), which are of the general body tint at their 

 bases, are black at the margin, and they are nar- 

 rowly edged with white, except that the anal may 

 lack the white edging on some individuals. 



Size. — Cusk grow to a maximum length of about 

 3}i feet; one 40 inches long, weighing 27 pounds, 

 trawled by the Albatross II in the central part of 

 the Gulf of Maine, in 120 fathoms, was the largest 

 that has been recorded definitely from our waters. 

 But those caught in the Gulf of Maine average only 

 IK to 2/i feet long, and from 5 to 10 pounds in 

 weight. The relationship of weight to length, in 

 fish we have handled recently, was as follows: 26 

 inches, about 5}i pounds; 33K inches, about 14% 

 pounds; 36 inches, about 20 pounds. The size 

 at which cusk first mature sexually seems not to 

 have been recorded. 



Habits. — Once the young fry have taken to the 

 bottom they are ground fish so exclusively that 

 we have never heard of one swimming up to the 

 upper waters, as cod so often do, and even hake. 

 They are sluggish, too, and weak swimmers, but 

 powerful of body; when a cusk is hooked it is 

 likely to twine itself around one's line in a bother- 

 some way. 



They are more or less solitary, not so abundant 

 anywhere as cod, haddock, or hake are, as may be 

 illustrated by the following catches counted as 

 they came from the water by representatives of 

 the Bureau of Fisheries in 1913: Twenty miles 

 east of Cape Cod Light, November 16 and 17, 

 1913, long line, 460 cusk to 2,150 haddock and 

 1,22S cod; 15 miles southeast of Monhegan Island, 

 June 24 and 25, 1913, long lines, 580 cusk to 2,880 

 hake; Jefln^ys Ledge, December 11 and 12, 1913, 

 long line, 230 cusk to 470 haddock and 475 cod; 

 northwest part of Georges Bank, October 10 to 

 13, 1913, otter trawl, 4 cusk and 12,473 haddock; 

 6 miles east of Boon Island, March 30, 1913, gill 

 net, 5 cusk, 1,055 haddock; 51 cod, 20 pollock, 

 and 76 dabs (Hippoglossoides) . 



It also seems that cusk move little from bank to 

 bank. Thus the "Massachusetts fishermen tell 

 me," wrote Goode m "that these fish are usually 



found in considerable abundance on newly dis- 

 covered ledges, and that great numbers may be 

 taken for a year or two, but that they are soon all 

 caught. Sometimes, after a lapse of years, they 

 may be found again abundant on a recently de- 

 serted ground." "Neither is there any definite evi- 

 dence that the cusk performs in or offshore migra- 

 tions with the seasons, at least in our Gulf. 



The cusk is so purely a fish of at least moderately 

 deep water that we have never heard of one taken 

 in less than 10 to 15 fathoms of water within our 

 Gulf. On the other hand, it is safe to say that 

 there are few cusk living below 100 fathoms or so 

 in the deep basins of the Gulf. But they range 

 down to 250-300 fathoms on the continental slope 

 off southern New England, according to Goode 

 and Bean. 81 And they have been caught down to 

 530 fathoms in the Faroe Channel. 



Cusk are decidedly fastidious, too, in their 

 choice of bottoms, being found chiefly on hard 

 ground, especially where the sea floor is rough with 

 rocks or boulders; on gravelly or pebbly grounds; 

 occasionally on mud with hake, but seldom on 

 smooth clean sand. In Norwegian waters they 

 often lurk among gorgonian corals, and they may 

 have this same habit on the parts of our offshore 

 banks where these are plentiful. 



The cusk is a fish of cool water, but not of the 

 coldest. In the Gulf of Maine (once the fry have 

 deserted the surface for the bottoms at their 

 chosen depths), cusk spend their lives in water 

 which does not warm above about 48° to 50° at 

 the warmest season, nor cool below about 33° to 

 34° at the coldest. And it is probable that temper- 

 atures of 32° F. or lower are the factor that limit 

 their American range in the north (p. 242). 



Food. — Little is known of the diet of the cusk. 

 European students describe the stomachs as usu- 

 ally containing crustaceans, sometimes mollusks. 

 And crabs, with occasional mollusks, that we 

 found in the stomachs of several cusk caught on 

 Platts Bank in the summer of 1924, are the only 

 record of its food of which we know, for this side 

 of the Atlantic. But the cusk is not fastidious as 

 to bait, accepting clams, cockles, and herring 

 readily. 



Cusk spawn in spring and early summer in both 

 sides of the Atlantic. In European waters the 

 season lasts only from April until June; but 



» Fish. Iuci. U. S., Sect. 1, 1884, p. 233. 



" Smithsonian Contrib. Knowl., vol. 30, 1895, p. 385. 



