GADOIDS. 



568 



esteemed as light and delicate. Like all other fishes, 

 the whiting varies much in length, but the average is 

 about a foot. The upper jaw is the longest, and the 

 teeth in that jaw are long. The colour on the upper 

 part is pale brown; the sides and belly are silvery, 

 more or less marked with pale yellow ; and the lateral 

 line is straight and white. The whole fish has a 

 rather delicate and semi-transparent appearance. 



The whiting does not perhaps range so far to sea- 

 ward at any season as some others of the genus. In 

 the summer months, at least, it remains much closer 

 in than the others, feeding on the fry of herrings and 

 other iishes which deposit their spawn near the shore ; 

 it also feeds on Crustacea and mollusca. Indeed, 

 though the whiting is a delicate fish to appearance, it 

 partakes of the voracity and miscellaneous feeding 

 which are characters of the whole tribe. Different 

 from what is the case with most of the others, the 

 whiting is understood to be fattest and in best con- 

 dition upon the tlat shores and rich bottoms, though 

 its flesh is said to be firmer when it inhabits the rocky 

 grounds. Whiting, though far from being so sub- 

 stantial as an article of food as many of the others, is 

 understood to be more light and easy of digestion, 

 more so indeed than perhaps any other fish ; and 

 thus it is an aliment well adapted for invalids. Whit- 

 ing is generally eaten fresh ; but it is also salted, 

 though it does not answer quite so well for that pur- 

 pose as those species which have firmer flesh. 



THE COAL-FISH (G. carbonarius}. This is a very 

 common species, found upon most parts of the British 

 shores, though much more rarely on the southern 

 than the northern. It is a very active fish, and found 

 most abundantly in rocky places, or in currents and 

 tideways. When young it occurs in vast shoals at 

 the entrances of harbours, and in all places where 

 there are runs of water near the land ; in which 

 places vast numbers are caught, with rod and line, by 

 the boys and idlers, but they are of no great value. 

 In this state it is small, not in general larger than a 

 sprat, and by no means so well llavoured as sprats 

 are when they are newlv taken, but it can be longer 

 kept. In this state it is the " podlie " of the Scotch 

 coasts, the fishing for which, at the ends of the piers 

 and jetties of harbours, is reckoned the most inglo- 

 rious of all fishing. In this young state the upper 

 part is dusky, and the under part dull white , but the 

 colours of the full-grown fish are different. 



When full-grown it reaches the length of two or 

 even three feet. The upper part, including the cau- 

 dal fin, is then black, but dull and with a tinge of 

 leaden blue toward the sides. The under part, in- 

 cluding the ventral and anal fins, is white ; the head is 

 small, and the form of the body rather elongated. 

 The tail is very broad arid forked, and the fish keeps 

 the water which is put in motion by the tide or other- 

 wise, and swims with much vigour and rapidity. In 

 this state, as well as when young, these fishes take 

 the bait very greedily, and thus are more easily caught 

 than almost any others ; but they are tough and lea- 

 thery, so that they are nowhere very marketable. 

 They are, however, used both in the recent state and 

 salted ; and from their cheapness, they are eaten in 

 great numbers by the labouring people on the poorer 

 islands and parts of the coast. The Shetland isles 

 are their head-quarters, in so far as the British domi- 

 nions are concerned ; and so numerous are they on 

 the coasts of Scotland and its islands, that they have 

 about a dozen local names in different parts. In the 



Shetland isles they are called piltocks, and as the 

 cows are said to eat herrings on some parts of these 

 islands, so the poor people very generally, and at all 

 meals, eat piltocks. It is reported that a traveller in 

 those isles, meeting a boy in the forenoon, and not 

 getting a very ready or clear answer to some other 

 questions, asked him what he had had for breakfast 

 that, morning. " Piltocks," was the immediate answer. 

 " What do you expect for dinner?" asked the travel- 

 ler. " Piltocks." " And what for supper ?" " What 

 could any body get at our time but piltocks?" This 

 is the species which is mentioned as being numerous 

 on the northern shores of the Pacific ; but we believe 

 that specimens brought from there have not been 

 verv carefully examined in Europe. 



THE POLLACK (G. pollachius) does not grow to the 

 same size as the coal-fish ; and is not found in places 

 of exactly the same character ; but still it is very 

 common on the rocky parts of the coasts. As is the 

 case in the coal-fish, the lower jaw is longest. The 

 eyes are large, the irides of a brown colour, the upper 

 part is dusky green, the sides marked with yellowish 

 streaks, and the belly white ; the line of the back 

 slopes from the first dorsal fin ; and the tail is squared 

 over. The average length when full grown is under- 

 stood to be about a foot and a half. These are very 

 active fishes, and sport about in the utmost violence 

 of the sea. They are often found in vast shoals, and 

 are easily taken ; but their flesh is not held in much 

 estimation, excepting where the better species are 

 not to be had. 



THE GUEEN POLLACK (G. vireus). This species 

 is by no means uncommon in the larger tidal estuaries 

 of the northern parts of Britain, and it is frequently 

 caught but not much valued. It is more abundant, 

 and more attended to on the coasts of Norway. The 

 upper part and upper fins are green, and the under 

 part white, the fins being marked with numerous black 

 spots. The teeth in the upper jaw are numerous, and 

 very strong in proportion to the size of the fish which, 

 on the British shores at least, is rarely if ever so much 

 as a foot. 



These are the principal species of that section or 

 sub-genus, of which the whiting is considered the 

 type ; and, taking them altogether, they are of far less 

 value in an economical point of view than the former, 

 or than many of those that remain still to be noticed. 

 They are, perhaps, more active than any of the others, 

 and they come in greater numbers near the shores, 

 and into the tideways, and are much more easily 

 caught. The next division is that of which the com- 

 mon hake is the only known species ; and, from the 

 trivial name of that, the division is called Mcrluccim; 

 the distinguishing character is having only one anal 

 fin. ' 



THE HAKE (G. merluccius). This is a much more 

 southerly species than most of the genus ; and is men- 

 tioned by Cammeron as abounding in the southern 

 hemisphere. It is also met with in the Mediterranean 

 more plentifully, perhaps, than any of the others. On 

 the coasts of S'cotland, especially the east coast, it is 

 very rare ; it is less so among the more southern of 

 the western isles, and also on the south coast of Eng- 

 land. But the west coast of Ireland is the part of 

 the British dominions where it is most plentiful, espe- 

 cially the coasts of Mayo and Galway. It is an ac- 

 tive fish, ranging and discursive, and thus appearing 

 only seasonally on the coasts; but it is gregarious, 

 and when it does appear on its regular grounds, and 

 NN2 



