CODFISriES. 



495 



THE POOR, OR POWER COD (sw. glyskoljan). 



GADUS MINUTUS. 



Plait- XXIV, fig-. 2. 



Length of the Jiase of the first <ni(il fin more than half the distance between this Jin and the tip of the sjioiit. 

 Upper Jair most prominent. Lenf/fh of the lower Jan- at least almtt 48 % of the length of the head, which is 

 less than 24 % of the length of the hodij. Least depth of the tail less than fi % of the length of the body, than 

 48 % of the length of the lower jaii\ than 46 % of the distance between the tip of the snout and the hind e.r- 

 tremltji of the maxilla rg hones, or than 81 % of the length of the base of the third dorsal fin. Distance between 

 the tip of the snoaf and the hind ertremitg of the maxillarg bones, more than <S8 % of the length of the lower 

 jaw, but less than the length of the ventral fins. Length of the snout less than 8 % of that of the bodg, than 

 70 % of the postorbital length of the head, or than (12 % of tlie length of the lower jaw. Greatest depth of the 

 bodg generally less than V4 of its length, and the greatest thickness, which is about ecpial to tJie postorbital length 

 of the head, less than 11 % of the length of the bodg. Coloration like that of the Whiting, but without the black 

 spot at the base of the pectoral fin, or with only a faint trace thereof. 



R. In: 7; D. 12 -15|19— 25!l9''— 24 ; A. 25—31120"- 

 P. 17 — 19; V. (5; ('. ,!•+ 19— 23 + .r: Vert. 50. 



_9 2'' 



«S'y(/. Aselliis mollis minor I. omnium minimus, Willughby, Hist. Pise, 



p. 171 (e mari Mediferraneo); Jago apnd Raium, Syn. Metli. 



Pise, p. 1G3 (e littore cornubiensi). 

 Gadus No. 7, Art., Gen., p. 21: No. 8, «S'////. p. 36 (ex 



Wii.L. et Jag.). 

 Gadus minutus, Lin., iSyst. Nat., erl. X, torn. I, p. 253 (ex 



Akt.); Jenyns, Man. Brit. Vert. Anim., p. 444; Fries, 



Skand. Fisk., ed. I, p. 78, v. Weight, tab. 17; Ki;., Danm. 



Fiske, vol. IT, p. 61; Nilss., Shand. Fn., Fish., p. 547; 



Thomps., Nat. Hist. Irel., vol. IV, p. 181: Gthr, Cat. 



Brit. Mvs., Fish., vol. IV, p. 335; Steind., Sizber. Akad. 



Wiss. Wien, Math. Naturw. Cl., LVII, i (1868), p. 704; 



Coll., Forh. Vid. Selsk. Christ. 1874, Till«gsh., p. 109; 



ibid. 1879, No. 1, p. 66; Malm {Gadulns), Gbc/s, Boh. 



Fn., p. 484; Winth. (Gadus), Naturh. Tidskr. Kbhvn, ser. 



Ill, vol. XII, p. 29; Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., Irel.. vol. I, 



p. 288, tab. LXXXI, Mob., Hckk, Fisch. Osts., p. 77; 



Storm, Norsk. Vid. Selsk. Skr. (Trondhj.) 1883, p. 33; 



Pktersen, Vid. Meddel. Naturh. Foren. Kbhvn 1884, p. 157; 



Lillj., So., Norff. Fi.'<k., vol. II, p. 76; Hansen, Zool. Dan., 



Fiske, p. 66, tab. IX, fig. 3. 

 Gadus tusciis, Bl., Syst. Ichtli., posth. ed. Scuneiper, p. 8, 



tab. 2; Nilss., Prodr. Ichth. iScand., p. 41; Schagep.str., 



Physiogr. Sallsk. Tidskr. (1838), p. 298. 



Ohs. Like the Bib tlie Poor, or Power Cod of the English fislier- 

 inen and the capelan of the French has been best known and easiest 

 to determine, from remote times, by these names, given it originally 

 by fishermen and in trade. Willughby and Ray did not know the 

 English form, and on their authority Linn^US clung to the opinion 

 that Gadus minutus occurred only in the Mediterranean. Jago had, 

 however, referred both forms to the same species: and Artedi ap- 



proved of this identification, but suffered the species to retain an in- 

 correct character (ano in medio corjjoris) which was one of the causes 

 that betrayed Bloch (Fische Deutsclilands, II, p. 167, tab. LXVII, 

 fig. 1) into confounding Gadus minutus with a young Gadus catlarias. 

 In this way Gadus minutus -was introduced into the Swedish fauna 

 in Retzius's edition of the Fauna suecica of Linn.eus (p. 319); and 

 wlien NiLSSON in his Prodromus undertook to correct the mistake, he 

 consulted Bloch's posthumous work, where a Poor Cod is evidently 

 figured under the name of Gadus luscus. 



The Poor Cod is one of the two smallest species 

 of this genus that still inhabit Scandinavian waters. 

 Its length is usually between 15 and 20 cm., and sel- 

 dom exceeds 23 cm." That which distinguishes the 

 Poor Cod at the first glance from most of the other 

 species, is the deeper and more compressed form of the 

 body, the eminently large eyes, the large and distinct 

 scales, and the ])lain colour of the body. 



The greatest deptli of the body, which in this 

 species occurs Ix'tween the beginning of the .second 

 dorstil tin and the vent, is in young specimens about 

 equal to the length of the head, but in old somewhat 

 greater, thus varying between 19', and 24^ ^, % of the 

 lenfftli of the body. The greatest breadth (thickness) 

 is aliout etpial to half the greatest depth or somewhat 

 less, and \\e liave never found it to be tjuite so much as 

 1 1 ?o of the length of the body, though very nearly so. 



The forehead is slightly convex, and curves down- 

 ward towards the short, blunt, and sloping snout. The 



" Sometimes 17, according to Lilljeborg. 



'' Sometimes 23, according to Keoyer. 



' NlLSSON, according to his own statement, however, had seen a specimen 26 cm. in length. 



