CHAPTER XIII 



THE HAKE, THE SCABBARD FISH, 

 PROMETHEUS AND NESIARCHUS 



Until quite recently the hake was considered to belong to the 

 cod family, in more teclmical language it was classified among the 

 gadidse. In Cunningham's standard work on " Marketable Marine 

 Fishes," the hake was included with the ling and the forkbeards, 

 among the species with two dorsal fins, the hinder long and the front 

 one short. But the hake has no barbel, which is jiresent in the ling. 

 The scales are larger than in the ling, and the fins broader and stiffer. 



The term hake (Ger. hecht. pike) is now applied to several species 

 constituting the genus Merluccius, allied to the cod, but now often 

 made a separate family, Merluciidse. 



M. Merluccius is the common European form. In America, 

 however, the term is applied to certain marine gadoid fish, having 

 narrow filamentous pelvic fins, placed under the tln^oat. It is 

 important to remember this fact when consulting American authors. 

 For example, Herrick notes that " in the gadoids, particularly the 

 tom-cod and hake, the free filiform rays of the pelvic fin function 

 in a similar fashion to the barblets of Ameiurus, and are hkewise 

 provided with end-organs of both touch and taste." Now the tom- 

 cod (compare the French " tucaud," whiting pout) is a small gadoid 

 which resembles the common cod-fish except in size, but the hake, 

 described by Herrick, is not the same fish as that frequenting 

 British waters, but is allied to the forkbeards. 



In the course of a study from a comparative point of view of 

 the brains of gadoids, the very great dissimilarity of the brain of 

 the hake from the brains of other gadoids was very evident. Its 

 brain pattern will, therefore, be described, and then its character- 

 istics, habitat and diet. 



The brain is rather smaller that the average brain of a gadoid, 

 and the most obvious difference is to be seen in the cerebellum, 

 which instead of being tongue-like and extending backwards so as 

 to overlap the medulla oblongata is only a median globular eminence, 

 which projects above two lateral lobes which are the very enlarged 

 acoustic tubercles, as is demonstrated when serial sections are 

 H 113 



