470 



SCANDIXAVIAX FISHES. 



VL'iit eiiual to the length of the ventral fins. The 

 second (hind) coil of the intestine (the first coil is 

 not half so long) and the long, left lobe of the liver 

 extend to the bottom of tlie cavity. The perito- 

 nenni is ashy gnw. The air-bladder is large, broad 

 behind, and furnished with large, tirni lateral bands, 

 projecting from it like the teeth of a saw. The Yivev 

 has numerous small lobes, but as usual only two prin- 

 cipal ones, the left being the longer, and one, shorter, 

 middle lobe. The gall-bladder is ol)long, \\itli iK)inted 

 liottom and verv tiiin mend)r,-nie. The pylorie appen- 

 dages are naiTower and longer than in the ^^ hiting. 

 Their numbei* may rise to about '200. 



Tlie chief singularity in the skeleton of the Had- 

 dock is that the clavicular bones are terete, swollen, as 

 it were, in their anterior (horizontal) part, but pointed 

 as usual- — as (_>laf.sex descri])es them: ''thick, oblong, 

 round, white, and ver-s" easih" worked, but nuich softer 

 and looser than ivory. The Icelanders make various 

 trifles out of them, mostlv chess-men, which thev dye 

 green with oxide of copper' . The posterior (angular) 

 part of the posttemporal bone is also swollen. 



The Haddock is an Atlantic species, but seems to 

 prefer the eastern parts of tliis ocean. Still, it is by 

 no means rare on the east coast of North America — 

 Ijetween lats 38° and 53° N., according to Buowx- 

 GoODE — and is taken there, occasionally at least, in 

 greater numbers even than the Cod. But on that side 

 of the .\tlantic its range, as far as we know it, is be- 

 Aond comparison more confined than on this, where it 

 occurs from about lat. 78° to 44° N. Kkoyek observed 

 it "about 13 miles off Spitzbergen, in about lat. 77° N."; 

 and the Swedish Expedition of 18(il took a small young 

 Haddock (see above) in a trailnet in Ice Fjord. The 

 Spitzbergen Expedition of 18fi8 paid a visit of some 

 days to Bear Island; and at the anchorage of the .S'o/?f/ 

 on the east side of the island the crew cauglit nund)ers 

 of Haddocks with handlines. Mela" states that the 

 Haddock is common on the Mui'nian coast, and thinks 

 it probable that the species occurs in the White Sea. 

 In Iceland, according to Faber'', it is verv valuable to 

 the inhabitants. On tlie coast of Greenland it is un- 

 known. The Haddock-fisliery is pursued along the ^hole 

 Atlantic coast of Europe, down to central France; but 



in the Bay of Biscay, according to Mokeau, the Had- 

 dock is rare, and further south, as well as in the Me- 

 diterranean, it is unknown. Along the whole coast of 

 Norwav and tiie west coast of Sweden down to the 

 Sound the Haddock is conuuon, but south of Hveen it 

 is rare, and, as NiLSSox points out, has never been 

 caught on the Baltic coast of Sweden. On the German 

 coast it has never been found east of the coast of 

 Mecklenburg; l)ut it is sometimes found in Kiel Bay, 

 where, according to MOiuis and Heixcke, specimens 

 (iO cm. lonii' have been taken. 



The Haddock likes fairly deep water — according 

 to Malm, from 12 to 50 fathoms in depth — with a 

 clayey or soft sandy bottom, wliich it ahvays hugs 

 closely. Though always a shore-fish, it is bv no means 

 stationary, Init keeps roving about in large or small 

 companies along the deep channels among the island- 

 belt, the vounger specimens in large shoals, the older 

 in smaller ones. Thus, one can never be sure of finding 

 this fish at spots where it has formerh' been plentiful, 

 nor, though one has made a good catch on one day, 

 of taking a single specimen on the morro^v. The Had- 

 dock is never seen quite close in shore, not even the 

 fry; and the seasons seem to influence it but little in 

 the choice of its haunts. Khovee has already remarked 

 tliat off several parts of tlie Danish coasts the Haddock 

 has disappeared for vears, and then returned. Nilssok 

 makes the same remark of Kullen, where it is said to 

 be plentiful periodicall}', every eighth or tenth }'ear. 

 Numbers of similar observations have been made in 

 America''. The causes of these migrations may be va- 

 rious; but one of the most probable explanations of the 

 periodical abundance or scarcity of the Haddock seems 

 to lie in the needed supply of food. Like its kindred 

 species, the Haddock is a fish-of-prev that lives on other 

 fishes; but it is also \erv fond of lower organisms, 

 shellfish, worms, and Opliiincc, which induce it to make 

 its home on soft bottoms. Its comparati\ely small 

 mouth naturally restricts its voracity; but -wlien the 

 young Herrings enter the shallo^\■er inlets among the 

 islands, the Haddock joins their pursuers, and is thus 

 enticed into shallower water than it usually frequents. 

 On these occasions a few Haddocks are taken in the 

 Herring-seines. 



" Vert. Fcnn., p. '2!10. tab. IX. 



'' Xatin-ij. d. Fische IslaiKh. \\. 103. 



'■ See rUiowN-GooriE, 1. c. 



