520 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



and owing to its voracity is caught freely before and 

 after the spawning-season — even during this period, 

 tor all Hakes do not spawn at the same time — it soon 

 results that an adequate inuuber of adult individuals 

 is not forthcoming. In this case the fish must become 

 rare, until the fishermen have had time to desert the 

 station as unproductive, and a new stock of adult fish 

 lias assembled or grown to maturity, and been per- 

 mitted to breed in peace for a generation or t^vo. 



When fresh the Hake is regarded as an inferior 

 fish, especially when it is caught on a muddy bottom. 

 On a stony and hard Ijottom it is said to be of better 

 (juality. Salted and dried, like the other Codfishes, 

 in the foi'm of stockfish, rotkitvrs etc., the Hake is 

 said to be nearly as good as Cod prepared in the 

 same manner. In this form considerable quantities are 

 exported to Roman Catholic countries, and consumed 

 during Lent, when meat is forl^idden. 



In the Cattegat the Hake is caught partly with 

 long-lines and partly -with liand-lines used for other 

 fish. On the fishing-bank described above the fishery 

 is carried on during the spaAvning-season, at the end 

 of July and beginning of August, with hand-lines and 

 Haddock-lines. The bait consists of Heri-ing or, still 

 better, of Mackerel, and sometimes of a bit of the fish 

 taken from the belly of the Hakes already caught. 

 Hundreds of boats, usuallj' with a crew of three men, 

 assemble there, and if the fishery is successful, a single 

 forenoon ^\•\\\ suffice to give them a full load. On the 

 coast of Brittany the Hake is the object of a fairly 

 important fishery, pursued in the open sea, jjartly A\ith 

 nets and partly with lines, in large boats, each with 

 a crew of nine men. This fishery is carried on only 

 at night, and affords employment to a large number 

 of persons. 



(SUNDEVALL, SmITT.) 



Genus MOLUA. 



Tiro fttUji developed dorsal fins <(iid one aiud fn. Vertical fins well separated, in adult specimens with a distinct, 



finless peduncle of the tail. Ventral fins n-ith six rai/s. Caudal fin more or less rounded. Intermaxillary teeth of 



fairli; uniform size, hut the teeth in the lower jaw and on the head of the vomer interspersed 



with lar/je canines. Branehiostef/al rni/s 7 . 



This genus, which was combined by CuviEii with the 

 t'olldwing one, was first separated from it by Nilsson", 

 though, like FLKiriNo'', he had previously'' employed the 

 same generic name for the grou]) which Cuvier and Risso 

 (•ailed Lotta. The name of Molua, as well as Morrhua 

 (Morhua), is a Latinized form of the French morue, and 

 was applied by Rondelet'' to the Cod, but altered by 

 Aldrovande to Molva and employed by Charleton'" for 

 both the Ling and the Cod. As in the case of the pre- 

 ceding genus, we restore thci original name, Iiy which 

 course we are enabled without absolute tautology to re- 

 tain the Linniean specific name of the type of the genus. 



The genus possesses its principal systematic im- 

 portance in the capacity of an intermediate stage be- 

 tween the preceding genus and the following one. This 

 appears most distinctly in the structure of the second 



dorsal and the anal fins, which in one species, our 

 common Ling, are almost entirely Avithout that trace 

 of division Avhich we have observed in the preceding 

 genus, but in the second species, Molua dipterygia, do 

 not indeed shoAv these traces as distinctly as Merlucius, 

 but still plainly enough. In Molua dipterygia the caudal 

 fin is much more abruptly rounded — thus coming 

 nearer Merlucius — than in our common Ling, Avhich 

 in this respect also more nearly resembles the Burbot. 

 The number of rays in the ventral fins (less than 7), a 

 number which may, however, occur in Lotta, and the can- 

 ine teeth in the lower jaw and on the vomer are, there- 

 fore, the most trustworthy characters of the genus Molua. 

 Molua is furtlier distinguished from Lotta by the smaller 

 breadth of the interorbital space'', the shorter ventral 

 fins^, the narrower (less terete) form of the body*, and 



" Skand. Fn., Fisk., p. 573 (1865). 



'■ Brit. Anhn., p. 192. 



' Prodi: Irhth. Sciiid.. p. 45 (18.S2). 



'' De Pise, lib. IX, cap. XIV. 



* Oiiomast. Zoic, p. 121. Molva viajor (tlie Ling) and Molva -minor (llie Coil). 



•' As a rule less than ' '. of the length of the head. 



'■' Less than 12 % of the length of the body. 



'' Greatest breadth of the body as a rule less than 45 °o of the length of the head. 



