11)4 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The cod of the North Pacific Oceau is found from Bering Sea south to 

 Oregon and Japan. 



The movements of cod are not well understood. They go in schools, 

 but in much less dense bodies than do mackerel, herring, and men- 

 haden, and when moving from one ground to another they are in more 

 compact schools than when on the feeding-grounds. The movements 

 on and o& shore and from bank to bank are due to several causes, 

 among which are the effects of water temperature, the presence or 

 absence of food, and the spawning instinct. In the winter months 

 there is a well-marked movement of large bodies of codfish to the 

 shores of the New England and Middle States, and important fisheries 

 are there carried on in regions from which cod are absent at other 

 times. This movement seems to be chiefly for the purpose of finding 

 shallow grounds for spawning. That the cod sometimes makes very 

 long journeys is shown by their capture on the New England coast 

 with peculiar hooks in their bodies which have been identified as 

 similar to the hooks employed by the French cod fishermen on the 

 Grand Banks. 



Although sometimes found in shallow water, cod are essentially deep- 

 water fish, i^referring water from 20 to 70 fathoms deep and being 

 found even at a depth of 300 fathoms. Those caught for market are 

 usually taken at depths of 20 to 40 fathoms. 



The cod takes its food on the bottom, at the surface, or at intermediate 

 points. It is an omnivorous and extremely voracious feeder, cousuming 

 all marine animals of suitable size. Favorite articles are bivalve 

 mollusks, crabs, lobsters, starfish, and fish. Among the fish consumed 

 in large quantities are capelin, lant, herring, alewives, menhaden, 

 mackerel, and haddock, although many others are also eaten. The 

 abundance and movements of such fish have an important relation to 

 the presence and abundance of cod in a given region. 



WEIGHT AND GROWTH OF COD. 



The largest cod recorded from New England waters weighed 211^ 

 pounds and was over 6 feet long; it was taken on a trawl off the 

 northern Massachusetts coast in May, 1895. The capture of a number 

 weighing from 100 to 175 pounds could be cited, but those exceeding 100 

 pounds in weight are by no means common, and even 75-pound cod are 

 not numerous. The average weight of the large-size cod caught in the 

 shore waters of New England is about 35 pounds; on Georges Bank, 

 25 pounds; on the Grand Banks and other eastern grounds, 20 pounds; 

 the average weight of the small-size fish caught on all these grounds is 

 about 12 jjounds. 



Observations in Massachusetts of the rate of growth of the cod show 

 that those 1| to 3 inches long are about 6 months old; those 9 to 13 

 inches long, and weighing 7 or 8 ounces, are 1^ years old ; those 18 inches 

 long, and weighing 2 to 2i pounds, are 2.J years old ; and those about 22 

 inches long, and having a weight of 4 to 5 pounds, are 3J years old. 



