NOTE ON THE WALL-EYED POLLACK (POLLACHIUS CHALCO- 

 GRAMMUS FUCENSIS) OF PUGET SOUND. 



BY 



David S. Jordan and Charles H. Gilbert. 



Mr. David H. Hume, a fisherman of Tacoma, Wash., wrote to us re- 

 cently asking- for information concerning a fish wliicli he called "Wall- 

 eyed cod," and which has appeared in abundance in Puget Sound 

 about Seattle. At our request, Mr. Hume sent a number of sj)ecimens 

 of the fish to the museum of the Leland Stanford, Jr., University, from 

 which one has been sent to the U. S. National Museum. 



The wall eyed cod proves to be specifically identical with the com- 

 mon pollack of Alaska, PollacMus clialcogrammus. These specimens 

 from Seattle, however, differ notably from any which we have seen 

 from Alaska, in the fact that the fins are all lower, and that there are 

 fewer rays than in the Alaskan si^ecimens, and that the color is nearly 

 uniformly sooty, with the dark markings of the Alaskan fish either 

 entirely obliterated or very faintly shown. 



These characters would seem at first sight to indicate specific differ- 

 ence; but as we find more or less variation, it is probably safe to 

 regard the Puget Sound fish as representing a southern variety, which 

 may be called Pollachius clialcogrammus fucensisi. 



In the fish from Tacoma the color is nearly plain sooty, with no cross 

 streaks, and with generally only a trace of a i^ale lateral streak along 

 the side; on the head are some diffuse dark spots; the fins are all 

 dusky. The dorsal fins are low, the longest ray of the first dorsal being 

 from 2\ to 2^ in head ; the pectoral is short, from 1| to If in head ; 

 caudal is subtruncated, its lobes scarcely acute. The fin rays in four 

 specimens are as follows: (1) D, 10-15-17; (2) D, 11-15-16; (3) D. 10- 

 14-lG; (4) D. 12-13-17; the average of all specimens, D. 11-14-16. 

 Anal fins, (1) A. 18-16; (2) A. 19-18; (3) A, 16-19; (4) A, 19-19; the 

 average of all specimens, A. 17^-18, The band of teetli in the pre- 

 maxillary is wider than in the Alaskan si)ecimens, and the band is 

 widened at the anterior end. 



In the true chaleogrammHs from Alaska, taking specimens of about 

 the same size, we find that the body is more elongated, the nose sharper, 

 the eyes a little larger, the premaxillary band of teeth narrower and 

 narrowed in front toward the median line, the coloration is paler, the 



Proceedings National Museiiiii, Vol. XVI — No. 939. 



315 



