112 DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN 



Quantities of gasteropods (most likely a species of Biiccinuni) 

 creep into the nets, and form a very serviceable bait, just as on 

 the eastern side of the Atlantic. Afterwards they remove to 

 the southern portion of the bank, where they were when we met 

 them. This was, according to the captain, lat. 44° 30' N., and 

 long. 53° 34' W. The cod spawn here in July, and were just 

 on the point of doing so. They were from 60 centimetres to 

 over a metre long, and upon inspecting the catches of several 

 dories (flat-bottomed boats used for cod-fishing in Norway 

 also) we found the roes to be quite mature. The fishermen 

 also catch squid {Gonahis fabricii \ see Fig. 98) with a grapnel 



Fig. 97. — -Hand-line Fishing. 



— a red piece of metal with hooks all round it — exactly in the 

 same way as they are caught on the north and west coasts of 

 Norway. 



After July the fishermen work their way northwards, 

 probably because the cod move northwards along the bank 

 as the cold water recedes during the course of the summer. 

 According to their statements, which would justify a thorough 

 investigation, there are for the most part only small-sized cod 

 farther south and west on the banks off Nova Scotia and Cape 

 Breton Island, or on what they call the " Banquereau." Is it 

 perhaps the case here too, as in Norway and Iceland, that the 

 larvse and young fish drift with the current and grow into cod 

 far away from the place where they were spawned } 



On the Norwegian coast the cod chiefly spawn between 



