FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



191 



small cod that make up most of the population 

 along the coast of Maine shift ground but little 

 from season to season. The red fish that haunt 

 the rocks also belong to this category, and red 

 "rock" fish are sometimes caught as large as 10 

 or 20 pounds. 



Other cod (and these compose the greater part 

 of the Gulf of Maine stock), are always on the 

 move over the bottoms of their chosen banks. 

 Though cod can hardly be described as schooling 

 in the same sense as herring or mackerel school, 

 these traveling cod often hold together so closely 

 that it is common enough for one-half of a long 

 line to come in loaded with cod, but the other 

 half to come in empty, and these bodies of fish 

 often run very even in size, color, and shape, 

 suggesting that they may hold together for con- 

 siderable periods. But fishermen report them 

 mixed as to sex, sometimes males predominating, 

 sometimes females. It is these "school" fish, as 

 they are called, that most often prey on fish and 

 on squid, though they feed chiefly on shellfish as 

 all cod do. They run slenderer and lighter colored 

 than ground cod and have smaller heads, but it is 

 probable that such differences are only temporary 

 reflections of the surroundings of the individual 

 fish, and that a cod that is a ground fish this 

 month, may start on its travels next, turning 

 brighter and becoming more shapely as it goes, 

 either from a change of diet, from a change of 

 surroundings, or from more active exercise. 

 Furthermore, cod may flee a given locality if 

 harassed too much by the spiny dogfish (p. 48), 

 and no doubt other enemies drive them at times. 



When cod are on their travels they often rise 

 to the middepths (a fact proved by the levels at 

 which they are caught in nets) ; netted fish are so 

 often empty, whereas those caught on hook and 

 line are full of food, that they are popularly (and 

 perhaps rightly) believed to fast while they are 

 on a journey. 



It is probable that the wanderings of these 

 schools of fish are confined to rather small areas, 

 in most instances. Very few cod, for example, 

 that have been tagged on one of the major Gulf 

 of Maine grounds north or east of Cape Cod have 

 been recaught on any other ground. But the 

 experience of fishermen makes it probable that a 

 certain amount of intermingling does take place 

 between Browns Bank and Georges; also between 

 the latter and Nantucket Shoals. 



An interesting fact in this connection, and one 

 for which we see no explanation, is that the 

 majority of such cod as stray afield from the coast 

 of Maine tend to travel to the eastward as a rule, 

 as shown by tagging experiments. Thus 50 out 

 of 76 cod that were marked near Mount Desert, 

 and that are known to have journeyed more than 

 a few miles afield went eastward to Petit Manan 

 (5); to Grand Manan (6); to the west coast of 

 Nova Scotia (20); to the outer coast of Nova 

 Scotia as far as Scatari, Cape Breton (16); to 

 Browns Bank (1); to La Have Bank (1); and to 

 Sable Island Bank (1). But only 26 of them were 

 recaptured to the southward and westward; i. e., 

 Penobscot Bay to Cape Ann, including Cashes 

 and Jeffreys Ledges (20); inner part of Massa- 

 chusetts Bay (1); off Provincetown (1); South 

 Channel (1); Nantucket Shoals (1) and Georges 

 Bank (2). 88 



Canadian tagging experiments have shown a 

 similar state for Nova Scotian cod, most of them 

 remaining nearly stationary for long periods, some 

 straying eastward, very few moving westward. 81 

 And Thompson's very extensive tagging experi- 

 ments have shown that the movements of most 

 of the cod of Newfoundland waters are confined 

 similarly within regions where physical conditions 

 are comparatively uniform. 



Some of the cod there make long journeys, 

 discussions of which would carry us too far afield.' 

 And in two different winters, (1877-1878 and 

 1892-1893) hooks of a kind that are used by 

 French fishermen on the Grand Banks of New- 

 foundland have been found in cod that were 

 caught near Cape Ann, 91 evidence that cod some- 

 times carry out journeys from north and east to 

 south and west along the American coast, com- 

 parable in length to the seasonal migrations that 

 cod have long been known to make along the 

 Norwegian coast, and between Iceland and the 

 West Greenland Banks. 92 



» About 12,000 cod were tagged by us near Mount Desert, on the U. 8. 

 Bureau of Fisheries vessels Halcyon and Albatrcst II and from other craft, 

 from 1924 to 1931. Recaptures nearby totaled 1,764. 



■ For details as to tagging experiments in Nova Scotian waters, see 

 McKenzie, Contrib. Canadian Biol, and Fisheries, N. Ser., vol. 8, No. 31, 

 1934. 



•• See Thompson (Research Bull. 14, Newfoundland Dept. Nat. Resources, 

 1943, pp. 2CM5, charts 1-8) for detailed discussion In relation to spawning and 

 to racial subdivisions of the local stock. 



•' Earll, Rept. U. S. Comm. Fish. (1878) 1880, p. 706. Kendall, Rept. 

 V. S. Comm. Fish (1896), 1898, p. 178. 



» See especially Hjort, Journal du Conseil. Cons. Perm. Interaat. Explor. 

 Mer., vol. I, No. 1, p. 9, 1926; also Schmidt, Rapp. Proc-Verb. Conseil 

 Perm. Intern. Explor. Mer., vol. 72, p. 37, 1931. 



