THE COD TRIBE 2805 



forms are limited to two or three. Although the flesh of the cod tribe is by no 

 means remarkable for its delicacy or flavor, it affords a most wholesome and sub- 

 stantial food, and as it possesses the property of taking salt readily, it is more val- 

 uable as a food supply than would otherwise be the case. Moreover, the liver of 

 the cod is of especial value as the source of a highly strengthening medicinal oil, 

 greatly increasing the value of the fishery of this species, which affords employ- 

 ment to a host of men on both sides of the Atlantic. The family is divided into 

 more than twenty distinct genera, but in this work our attention will be chiefly con- 

 centrated on those containing species of commercial importance. Geologically the 

 group is not a very ancient one, the oldest known forms, all of which are referred 

 to extinct genera, occurring in the London Clay and other deposits of lower 

 Eocene age. 



The common cod (Gadus morrhua) of which a half -grown and an 

 adult example are shown in the two lower figures of our illustration 

 is the typical representative of a genus primarily characterized by the presence of 

 three dorsal and two anal fins, and of teeth on the vomer, the palatine bones being 

 toothless. The degree of elongation of the body is moderate, and the narrow pelvic 

 fins include six or more rays. In the majority of the eighteen species recognized 

 by naturalists there is a single barbel dependent from the chin, but in some forms 

 this is absent. The species are distributed over the Arctic and Temperate regions 

 of the Northern Hemisphere. The common cod belongs to a group of several spe- 

 cies characterized by the upper jaw being the longer, and the outer series of upper 

 teeth stouter than the inner ones; its barbel is relatively long. Cod from the British 

 seas and German Ocean are usually greenish or brownish olive in color, with a num- 

 ber of yellowish or brown spots; but more to the north darker, and often uniformly- 

 colored specimens are more common, while in the race from Greenland, Scandi- 

 navia, and Northern Norway there is frequently a large, irregular black patch on 

 each side of the body. As a rule, cod vary in length from two to four feet, and 

 may weigh as much as one hundred pounds; but a specimen out of condition, 

 caught near Wick in the year 1872, measured upward of four and one-half feet. 

 The range of the cod includes the coasts of Northern Europe, Iceland, and Green- 

 land, whence it descends on the American coast as far as the latitude of New York; 

 the depth at which the fish is found extending as low as one hundred and twenty 

 fathoms. In Britain the spawning time is in January, at which season these fish 

 resort to the shores in great numbers, although at other times of the year they are 

 only found in the neighborhood of land singly. In America cod do not deposit 

 their spawn till May. The great fisheries are those of the Dogger Bank in the 

 North Sea, Iceland, and the banks of Newfoundland; the product of the latter area 

 having been formerly the greatest of all, its average value some twenty years ago 

 being estimated at upward of $3,000,000, of which $2,000,000 was accounted for by 

 the dried fish alone, the remainder being made up by the oil, skins, etc. The cod 

 is an exceedingly productive fish, Buckland stating that the number of eggs in a roe 

 weighing seven and three-fourths pounds, was close on seven millions. Cod feed 

 on various crustaceans, worms, mollusks, and small fish; and since they always fre- 

 quent comparatively deep water, they are caught by means of lines. 



