2540 Bulletin ^y, United States National Museum. 



2908. MICKOGADUS TOM( 01) (Walbaum). 



(TOMCOD; FROSTFISH.) 



Head 4 in body ; depth 5. D. 13 to 15-15 to 19-16 to 18 ; A. 17 to 21-16 to 

 20 ; eye 5 in head ; maxillary 2| ; pectoral If ; middle candal rays 2| ; first 

 dorsal raj-s Ij. Snout rounded, less produced than in Mto-ofiadus 2)rox- 

 imus; mouth short ; maxillary 2^ in head, reaching pupil ; eye large, 3| in 

 head ; barbel small ; jiectorals reaching vent ; veutrals filamentous, not 

 reaching A'cnt; vent under interval between first and second dorsals. 

 Color olive brown, distinctly blotched and spotted with darker, lighter 

 on the belly; more opaque than in M. jwoximus; l)ack and sides profusely 

 l^unctulate; dorsals and caudal blotched Avith darker; anals coarsely 

 liunctulate anteriorly, colorless posteriorly; veutrals and pectorals dusky. 

 Virginia to Labrador; very common northward, and valued as a food-fish. 

 Here described from a specimen, 9 inches in length, from Boston, Massa- 

 chusetts. Length 1 foot, {tomcod, a vernacular name.) 



Tomcod, SCHOPF, Schrift. Natm-f. Freunde, vni, 140, 1780, New York. 



Gadus tomcod, Walbaum, Artedi Piscium, ui, 133, 1792, after SchOpk; Jordan &, Gilbert, 



Synopsis, 806, 1883. 

 Gadt/s/ro«<, Walbaum, Artedi Piscium, ni, 134, 1792, North America; after Frost- fish of 



Pennant. 

 Gadus tomcodus, Mitchu,l, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc, i, 1815, 368, New York ; Gunther, 



Cat., IV, 331, 1862. 

 Gadus pr 111710 stii, Mitchill, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc, 1, 1815, 368, New York. 

 Gadus tomcodusfuscus, Mitchill, Trans. Lit. and Philos. Soc, i, 1815, 309, New York. 

 Gadxis tomcodus hitem, Mitchill, Trans. Lit. and Philos. Soc.,1, 1815, 369, New York. 

 Gadus tomcodus mixtus, Mitchill, Trans. Lit. and Philos. Soc, i, 1815, 369, New York. 

 Gadus polymorphui, Mitchill, Tran.s. Lit. and Philos. Soc, i, 1815, 369, New York. 

 Morrhua americana, Storeb, Kept. Fish. Mass., 120, 1839, coast of Massachusetts. 



981. GADUS (Artedi) Linn;eu8. 



(CoDFISIIE,S.) 



Gadus, LiNN^us, Syst. Nat., Ed. x, 251, 1758 {morhua) ; after Artedi. 

 Morrhua, Oken, Isis 1817, 1182 {morrliua; on Ics Morrhues of CuviER). 

 Cepphus, SWAINSON, Nat. Hist. Class'n Fishes, 11, 300, 1839 (macrocephalus) . 



Body moderately elongate, compressed and tapering behind. Scales 

 very small ; lateral line present, pale. Head narrowed anteriorly ; mouth 

 moderate, the maxillary reaching past front of eye; chin with a barl)el; 

 teeth in jaws cardiform, subequal; vomer with teeth; none on the pala- 

 tines; cranium without the expanded crests seen in Melanogrammns; no 

 part of the skeleton expanded and ivory-like. Dorsal tins 3, well sepa- 

 rated; anal tins 2; ventral fins well developed, of a1)out 7 rays. Species 

 of the Northern Seas; highly valued as food. {Gadus, the Latin name, 

 akin to the English word cod. ) 



a. Eye moderate, about i snout in .adult; axil without dusky spot. 



?f. Air bladder large. Atlantic codfish. callarias, 2909. 



bb. Air bladder small. Pacific codfish. macrocephalus, 2910. 



aa. Eye large, more than J length of snout; axil with a dusky spot; caudal peduncle 



slender. oqac, 2911. 



