224 



A.MF.RICAN FISHES. 



pubbraciiial 

 ma:,ac()PTErygii. 



THE AMERICAN WHITING. 



Merlangus Ameriranus. 



This is, comparatively speaking, a rare and little-known fish, that 

 which is commonly called Whitings being in reality a Hake Mer/ucius 

 It ranges only from Massachusetts northward. 



It is easily distinguished by its long, tapering, cylindrical body, and 

 its high, triangular, wing-like dorsals. 



Its color is, above the lateral line, a bright nacrous bluish gray, and 

 below a silvery white, with fins nearly of the same color. 



The head of the Whiting is acutely prolonged ; the eyes large and 

 prominent ; the gill-covers rounded ; the teeth sharp and small. 



The three dorsals have respectively thirteen, twenty and twenty 

 rays ; the pectorals nineteen, the ventials six, the anals respectively 

 twenty-four and twenty-one, and the caudal thirty-two. 



The Whiting is a delicate fish. It is taken in the same manner 

 and in the same waters with the Cod and Haddock, and, like them, 

 has little or no game habits. My chief reason for inserting him in 

 this work is, that his existence in American waters has been doubted 

 and dMii h1. 



With him ends the list of the fishes of An' rica which come within 

 the scope of my work, and now away to the waters and the woods, 

 and all the calm and sweet accessories of the gentle anciler'a craft. 



