THE COMMON COD. 511 



moreover : — " The fishermen here are exceedingly par- 

 ticular in the selection of the Cod for their own eating. 

 No gourmand can be more critical than they are. They 

 overlook the whole of the captives, and not satisfied with 

 the outward appearance of the fish, make deep incisions 

 in the bodies of the individuals set apart. The 

 colour of the flesh decides their choice ; and the greener 

 it is tlie better the fish is supposed to be. Many of these 

 men," the Professor adds, " affirm with confidence that 

 the Cod go through a kind of cycle, in regard to the 

 increase and decrease of their fatness ; so that for a certain 

 number of years (three or four, I believe), and until such 

 time as they have attained their culminating point, they 

 become fatter and fatter, but afterwards, for an equally 

 long period, gradually waste away." 



The sj)awning season of this fish, Ekstrom tells us, 

 varies considerably. " In those parts of the North Sea, 

 as for example the Lofoden Islands, where the Cod are 

 found in the gi*eatest abundance and of the largest size, 

 they, towards the end of the year, congregate at the 

 edge of the several ' banks,' where the water is from forty- 

 five to eighty fathoms in depth, and in sucU incon- 

 ceivaljle numbers that these localities have obtained 

 amongst tlie fishermen the designation of ' Fisk-herg,^ 

 literally fish-mountains. Here they lie so closely packed, 

 one above tlie other (the females, who are in a separate 

 shoal from the males, being always uppermost), that the 

 sounding-lead will not at times, it is said, penetrate the 

 mass. On the first arrival of the fish their milt and roe 

 are hard, but shortly afterwards they become soft and 

 fluid. When this occurs, the ' Lek ' commences, and is 

 carried on in shallower water, where the bottom is ovei"- 

 grown with weeds (which is not the case in the deeps), 

 amongst whicli the females deposit their ova. The 

 farther north these fish dwell, the sooner the Lek com- 



