86 DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVAL SERVICE 
7 GEORGE V, A. 1917 
ON SERIALLY STRIPED HADDOCK IN NEW BRUNSWICK. 
BY | 
Professor Epwarp E, Prince, LL.D., D.Sc., F.R.S.C., ete., 
Dominion Commissioner of Fisheries, Ottawa. 
(With one Plate). 
Interesting striped specimens of the common haddock (Gadus aeglefinus) have 
been brought at times to the Atlantic Biological Station, which are noteworthy on 
account of the contrast which they present to the usual type brought in by the fisher- 
men. They exhibit a series of broad bands and blotches of dark pigment on each side 
of the body, from the shoulder to the tail. The specimens do not seem to be by any 
means rare in Passamaquoddy bay, adjacent to St. Andrews, where the Biological 
Station is situated, and they are of some interest in themselves, and of wider interest 
in connection with the coloration of fishes, and of animals generally. 
The usual coloration of the haddock, to quote from Jordan and Evermann 
(1, page 2543) is “dark grey above, whitish below, lateral line black, a large blotch 
above the pectorals, dorsals and caudal dusky”; but the freshly-caught haddock 
exhibits other striking colour features. The dorsal surface is, indeed, usually of a 
metallic purplish hue, darkest in the upper portions, and becoming paler down the 
sides, where it merges in the pearly white colour of the throat and under-surface of 
the body. Immediately below the thin blackish lateral line a large sooty spot occurs, 
forming a prominent feature a little below the mid-portion of the high first dorsal fin 
(Plate IX., fig. 1). The black spot, variously called “Satan’s thumb-mark,” or “St. 
Peter’s finger-mark,” is about the size and shape of a large black thumb mark. In the 
drawings which illustrate this brief paper (Plate IX., figs. 2 and 3) it will be noticed 
that one specimen, fig. 2, shows no less than six “thumb marks,” or dark blotchesy 
while the other (fig. 3) shows traces, more or less distinct, of four transverse stripes. 
The first specimen, measuring 11 in. (279 mm.) from snout to base of tail fin, 7,e., 
the tip of the caudal trunk; or 11% inches to the free hind-border of the tail fin, 
exhibited three very prominent pigment patches, the most anterior being below the 
middle of the first dorsal fin, whose base measured 1546-inch, and this patch was 
%e-inch broad, and extended from the base of the fin above to.the usual distance below 
the lateral line, terminating behind and above the pectoral fin. This patch appeared 
like the usual dark thumb-mark; but a paler extension continued upward to the 
contour line of the dorsum. It was the most deeply tinted patch in the series, and 
especially dense below the lateral line. The next large patch occurred below the mid- 
portion of the second dorsal fin, more faintly coloured, and exactly 2 of an inch in 
breadth; the breadth of the fin above, along its base, being 23 inches. This second 
band passed down from the base of the fin to a considerable distance below the lateral 
line, indeed, down to a point within a quarter of an inch of the ventral contour line. 
The third large band, of a pale greyish tint, occurred between the mid-portion of the 
third dorsal fin (whose base is 1%c-inch long) and extends to a little distance below the 
lateral line. It was *4c-inch in breadth. Between these three major transverse 
stripes or bands there appeared minor patches, the first being merely a rounded pale 
greyish spot, 46-inch across and occurring midway down the side of the body, a little 
distance below the curved lateral line, and above the position of the anus. The next 
minor patch, also about %6-inch in diameter, occurred on the lateral line, partly above 
