198 MALACOP. SUB-BRACH. COD FAMILY. 



Straits ; Fabricius, however, does not include it in 

 his Greenland Fauna. It also occurs on the coasts 

 of North America, in the Pacific (it is said), and in 

 the Mediterranean ; but in the latter it is very rare. 

 Our own shores and those of the sister island pro- 

 duce it in abundance, but it becomes gradually less 

 l^lentiful as w^e advance from the northern parts of 

 Britain southwards, except in particular places, such, 

 for example, as the coast of Cornwall, where 24 cwt. 

 have been caught by four men in a few hours. 



Coalfish deposit their spawn early in spring, and 

 as the growth of the fry is rapid, they are upwards 

 of two inches long by the month of June, and nearly 

 five in August. It is when about this size that they 

 are most valued as food, for as they grow older their 

 flesh becomes coarse, although it is always wholesome 

 and substantial, and finds purchasers among the 

 poorer classes. In all stages of its growth, this fish 

 takes a bait with extraordinary eagerness ; when a 

 boat falls in with a shoal, they may be kept beside 

 it, by being attracted in this way, till the whole are 

 captured. Almost every district has its own local 

 name either for the full grown fish or the fry. Thus, 

 among the Scotch Islands the former is called Sil- 

 lock, Pitlock, Cudden, Sethe, Sey, &c. At New- 

 castle the latter are called Coalsey, and when pretty 

 large, Poodlers. In the Firth of Forth, and many 

 other parts of Scotland, the young are called P(.d- 

 leys. Under the latter designation they are w^ell 

 known to juvenile anglers, who take them in plenty 

 from the end of piers and other places overlooking. 



