450 Fishes. , 



beneath the gills, is a black spot on each shoulder, which 

 resembles the mark of a man's finger and thumb ; from 

 which circumstance it is called St. Peter's fish, alluding 

 to the fact recorded in the seventeenth chapter of St. 

 Matthew : " Go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take 

 up the fish that first cometh up ; and when thou hast 

 opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money ; that 

 take, and give unto them for me and thee." And while 

 St. Peter held the fish with his fore-finger and thumb, it 

 is fabled, that the skin received, and preserved to this 

 day, the hereditary impression. 



Haddocks migrate in immense shoals, which usually 

 arrive on the Yorkshire coast about the middle of winter. 

 These shoals are sometimes known to extend from the 

 shore nearly three miles in breadth, and in length from 

 Flamborough Head to Tynemouth Castle, a distance of 

 fifty miles ; and, perhaps, even farther. An idea of the 

 number of Haddocks may be formed from the following 

 circumstance : three fishermen, within a mile of the har- 

 bour of Scarborough, frequently loaded their boat with 

 these fish twice a day, taking each time a ton weight of 

 them ! 



The flesh of the Haddock is harder and thicker than 

 that of the whiting, and not so good; but it is often 

 brought upon the table, either broiled, boiled, or baked, 

 and is by many much esteemed. The Haddocks caught 

 on the Irish coast, near Dublin, are unusually large, 

 and of a fine flavour, and unite to the firmness of the 

 turbot much of its sweetness. They are in season from 

 October to January. 



