GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



291 



THE AMERICAN WHITING. 



Merlangus Americamis. 



The American Whiting. 



This is, comparatively speaking, a rare and little-known fish, 

 that which is commonly called IVhiting being in reality a Hake 

 [Merlucius). It ranges only from Massachusetts northward. 



It is easily distinguished by its long, tapering, cylindrical 

 body, and its high, triangular, wing-like dorsals. 



Its colour is, above the lateral line, a bright nacrous bluish 

 grey, and below a silvery white, with fins nearly of the same 

 colour. 



The head of the Whiting is acutely prolonged ; the eyes 

 large and prominent ; the gill-covers rounded ; the teeth sharp 

 and small. 



The three dorsals have respectively thirteen, twenty, and 

 twenty rays ; the pectorals, nineteen ; the ventrals, six ; the 

 anals, respectively twenty-four and twenty-one ; and the caudal, 

 thirty-two. 



The Whiting is a delicate fish. It is taken in the same 

 manner and in the same waters with the Cod and Haddock, 



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