446 SKVEXTII REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH A.\D GAME COMMISSION. 



spawns in December. In Massachusetts it is a resident species, entering brackish 

 waters ; it is connmon about the wharves and bridges in summer and is taken with 

 nets and hooks in winter, in company with the Smelt. 



The Tomcod reaches the length of about lo inches. It is an important food fish 

 and its eggs have been hatched artificially by the New York Forest, Fish and Game 

 Commission in large numbers. 



137. Cod [Gadns inorr/iiia Linnaeus). 



Gadus callarias Mitchill, Rept. Fish. N. Y., 5, 1814 ; Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y., 



I, 367, 1815 ; JoRD.AN & EvERM.^XN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus.. Ill, 2541, 1898 ; IV, 



pi. CCCLXI, fig. 891, 1900. 

 Gadus arenostis and riipcstris Mitchill, Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. N. Y., I, 368, 1815. 

 Morrhiia amcricaiia DeK.4Y, N. Y. Fauna, Fish., 274, pi. 44, fig. 140, 1842. 

 Gadus inorluia Mitchill, Rept. Fish. N. Y., 6, 1S14. 

 Gadus inivrliiia Gunther, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus., IV, 328, 1862 ; Goode cS; Bean, Bull. 



Essex Inst., XI, 8, 1879; Oceanic Ichth., 354, 1896 ; Bean, Bull, .\m. Mus. Nat. 



Hist., IX, 372, 1897. 



Color olive or yellowish brown; numerous dark brown spots on the body; fins 

 dark. 



The Cod is an inhabitant of the North Atlantic and the North Pacific. It is a 

 very important food fish and grows to a large size. Individuals weighing about 100 

 pounds have occasionally been taken. Mitchill has described this fi'-h under several 

 names — the Torsh, or Common Cod, or Rock Cod of New York. DeKay calls it 

 the American Cod. In November, 1S97, the Cod was abundant in Gravesend Bay. 

 It thrives in captivity during the winter and spring, but cannot be kept during the 

 warm months without cooling the water. In Vineyard Sound, according to Dr. 

 Smith, the Cod appear about April i to about April 15, when the Dogfish drive 

 them away. After the middle of October the Cod come again but in less numbers 

 than in the spring, remaining till the first wintry weather. The fish spawns during 



