one 72 cm. long and 



4^/3 kgm. in woigiit aljout 1,839,(!00. In September, 



Tlie lladdork spawns in spring, tVoiii l"cl)rnar\' or 

 March to Ma\' or .liiiu'". The ripe; eggfi, wliicli are 

 developed floating aI)out in tiie sea, are '/,, oi' an inch 

 (■2'82 nun.) in diameter, according to F.ai!LL, and in- 

 crease in ninuhei- according to the age of tlic parent- 

 fish, a female 4!) cm. long and 1 '08 kgm. in weight 

 containing about 170,000, aiu 



off Spitzbergen, tlie frv are about l'>!) nun. long, if anv 

 conclusion may be drawn from our observation on one 

 single occasion; but even on tlie 14th of June Collhtt 

 found Haddock-fry 40 — 50 mm. long in Christiania 

 Fjord, and Yarrell' states tliat on the coasts of Eng- 

 land "the young are six inches long by the beginning 

 of September." In October and November, saA's Fiues, 

 some small Haddocks between 100 and 150 mm. in 

 length may oceasionally be taken on the coast of Bo- 

 huslan; but with this exception tlie fi'y are never seen. 

 Like the young of several other fishes, of the Horse 

 Mackerel (see above, p. 87) and tlie ( "od for example, 

 tile Haddock-frv, according to S.\iis and Collett, seek 

 shelter and food under the Iiodies of McdiiSfC, together 

 witli which thev drift alioiit, until they are more than 

 50 mm. long: and then they probably join their parents 

 in deeper water. Off TromsO, however, Lilljeborg 

 saw fairly large shoals of young Haddocks keep near 

 shore in from 4 to G fathoms of Avater. 



The flesh of the Haddock is excellent, though its 

 reputation varies verv greatly in different localities and 

 at different seasons. In England and in Scandinavia 

 middle-sized specimens, between '^ an<l 1 kgm. in 

 weight, are considered best. In Ireland the largest spe- 

 cimens are most highly esteemed. During the spawning- 

 season the Haddock, like other fishes, is not so good 

 eating. It is consumed fresh — a boiled Haddock is a 

 dish of good flavour and easy of digestion — or also 

 salted or dried. In England it generally makes its 

 apiiearaiice on the table of the well-to-do at breakfast, 

 smoked and broiled. The Scotch "Haddies" of Findon, 



HADDOCK. 



near .Vbi^rdecn 



471 



enjoy a great reputation, .\fter the 

 tish is gutted, it is soaked for about three houi'S in 

 brine and then hung in the smoke of burning peat 

 and sawdust, but only until it acquires the proper, 

 \<'llo\v colour. It is, thus, very lightly smoked, but 

 has a iieculiar and not at all unpleasant flavour. Next 

 to the Herring, too, the Haddock is the most important 

 salt-water flsh to the English fisherman. In 1888, in 

 England, Scotland, and Ireland, no less than 2,369,012 

 cwt. of Haddock were taken, of a value of i.'943,258". 

 In I>ohusliin, to judge by the average prices at Gothen- 

 burg', tlu! Haddock sells best from September to April 

 inclusive, when it fetches about 1"60 to 2'30 crowns 

 (19 — 2/0) a score. In 1879 nearh' two million Had- 

 docks were brought to Gothenburg, most of thera in 

 November and April. In Bohusliin the Haddock is of 

 more importance to the fisherman than nierelv as an 

 article of food. It is chieflv this fish that is used as 

 bait ill the storfiske (gi'eat-fishery) for large Cod and 

 Ling. 



The most productive method of fishing for Had- 

 docks ])ractised in .Sweden is with siinibdckor (small 

 long-lines) or, as thev are also called. Haddock-lines, 

 about 125 metres long, with 100 hooks attached to 

 snoods about 45 cm. long". These lines are set in 

 a continuous line ("link ) one after another in deep 

 water near shore, at spots where the Haddocks come 

 roving in large shoals. They generally lie only a very 

 short time, for when the fisherman has paid out the 

 last bit of the link, he proceeds to take up the other 

 end. A bait of mussels {MijfUtis edidis) is usually 

 employed. During the whole summer this fishery is 

 carried on, in order to provide bait for the large long- 

 lines set for Cod and Ling. But even after the latter 

 fisheiy is over, Haddock-l.ines are set on the west coast 

 of Sweden all the autumn and far into the winter, and 

 repay 1)V the abundant catch the toil and difliculties 

 which the fishermen must brave to set them. The 

 spots chosen at this season are generallv in about 30 



" Earu, (see Biiovvx-Goode, 1. 0.) foiiiul a feuialo tlifit liatl not yet spawiicil, as late as the middle of July. Olsex {Pi\<cat. Atl.) 

 states that in England the spawning-season extends over Febrnary, March, and April. EwaRT describes (Xalure. 1889, May 2nd, p. 13) 

 how Scott met with a large shoal of Haddocks spawning at the bottom in about 30 fathoms of water, about 15 miles off the coast of 

 Banff. Tlie surface teemed with floating eggs of almost every stage of development, both of the Haddock and the Cod. At a single sweep 

 with his tow-net he secured half a million eggs, while llio trawlers brought hundreds of spawning fish from deep water. 



' Hist. Brit. Fish., ed. 2, vol. II, p. 234. 



'-• See The Fish trades Gazette for the 12lh and 2Gth of January, 1889. 



'' V. YiiLEX, Die Seefischerei an der Westkiiste Sclnvedens. Appendix to the catalogue of the Swedish department of the Berlin Ex- 

 hibition, 1880. 



' A description of this fishery, as it is pursued in tlie North Sea, on the German coast and off Heligoland, is given by Dalmeb in 

 Max v. 1). Borne's Handbuch der Fischcttcht and Fisrhevei, p. 494. 



