BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 225 



Vol. V, No. 15. Washington, ». C. Aug. 7, 1885. 



5«— REPORT ON BLACK COO OF THE NORTH PACIFIC OCEAIV.* 



By JAMES G. SWAN. 



Name. — The Anoplopoma fimbria is known in California as caudle- 

 fish, Spanish mackerel, grease-fish, &c. ; among the Makah Indians of 

 Cape Flattery, Wash., as "beskovve," and by the white residents at the 

 cape as " black cod." On Queen Charlotte's Islands, British Columbia, 

 it is called "coal-fish" by white settlers, and by the Haidah Indians, 

 who reside on those islands, it is called " skil." At Knight's Inlet, 

 British Columbia, it is called "kwakewlth." Each tribe or locality 

 where it is taken has a local name for it, but it is generally known as 

 black cod. 



The scientific name, Anoplopoma fimbria, has been adopted by Gill, 

 Jordan & Gilbert, and most other writers, although a specimen taken 

 off Mount Saint Elias, Alaska, was named by Pallas Gadus fimbria 

 (Froc. U. S. Nat. Museum, 1881, vol. 4, p. 254), thus showing that its 

 resemblance to the cod was observed by that naturalist. The term 

 "cod "is applied by fishermen and fish -dealers on the North Pacific 

 coast to a variety of fish which are not related to the genus Gadus, and 

 are not found in Atlantic waters. The Ophiodon elongatus is called, in 

 San Francisco, buffalo cod, green cod, blue cod, &c. At Cape Flattery 

 the Makah Indians call it "tooshkow." The whites call it kultus cod or 

 inferior to true cod. The different varieties of Sebastiehthys are known 

 in the Victoria and San Francisco markets as rock cod, but do not re- 

 semble the rock cod of New England in any manner, being more like 

 the perch, having a remarkable development of sharp bony spines and 

 prickles. The popular name of black cod applied to the AnopJoxwma 

 fimbria does, not seem any more of a misnomer than to call the Ophiodon 

 elongatus blue or green cod. 



Description. — In general appearance the black cod resembles a 

 pollock, but when fully grown they have the rounded form of a true 

 cod, but are not so marked. In color they are a dark olive brown or 

 sepia on the back, with grayish sides and belly; the flesh is white and 

 very fat. like mackerel, and they have been sold in San Francisco under 

 the name of Spanish mackerel when of a small size. Professor Jordan 

 says: "The young ones are taken off the wharves at Seattle, but are 

 not much thought of as a food-fish. It attains its greatest perfection 

 in very deep water, where it attains a size of 40 inches and a weight of 



* Anoplopoma fimbria (Pallas) Gill, or black cod of the North Pacific Ocean ; 

 beshowe, Makah Indians, of Cape Flattery, Wash.; skil, Haidah Indians, of Queen 

 Charlotte's Islands, Urirish Columbia. 



Bull. U. S. F. C, 85 15 



