THE HADDOCK AND THE BIB. 513 



fore, gives occupation to some 20,000 men, and the 

 captures arc said to amount to about 10,000,000 cod 

 fish annually. . 



The Haddock {Kolja, S\v. ; Hyse, Norw. ; Euller, 

 Dan. ; Gadiis JEglefinus, Linn.) was likewise very com- 

 mon with us, and elsewhere on "the whole of the western 

 coast of Scandiuavia. Very few, however, find their 

 way into the Baltic, probably in consequence of not 

 thriving so well in brackish water as the Cod, and those 

 few confine themselves to the more southern portion 

 of that sea. Tliovxgh this fish appears to move about a 

 good deal — for in places wliere captured one day in 

 abundance, it is not perhaps to be found the next — 

 yet it is not thought to l)e a great wanderer, but to 

 restrict itself chiefly to the locality where it was bred. 

 Its usual length is from one to two feet, but the fisher- 

 men aflfirm tliat it attains three feet and upwards, and a 

 weight of thirteen or fourteen pounds. It is a social fish, 

 keeping in larger or smaller shoals, and for the most part 

 in pretty deep water. It feeds on crustaceans, worms, 

 and small fish, and when the young herrings enter the 

 Skargard, it is amongst their most persistent pursuers. 

 Its breedinsr habits are not altogether known, some 

 saying that it spawns at the end of December, but others, 

 not until Tebruary is well advanced. Its flesh is firm 

 and delicate, and held in considerable estimation by all 

 classes, more esj)ecially by the fishermen, to whom it not 

 only serves as food, but is highly prized by them as bait 

 for the Cod and Ling. 



The Bib, or Pout {Bred- Torsk, or broad-cod, Sw. ; 

 Gadus lusciis, Linn.), has only twice been captui'ed in 

 the Scandinavian waters. In the first instance at Fiske- 

 backskil, in November, 1836, which specimen is preserved 

 in the Stockholm Museum ; and in the second case in 

 the Gothenburg SkJirgilrd 1)y M. Malm, who believes it 



2 L 



