AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 2799 



laud. They bear a small proportion generally to what is taken outside, 

 where the conveniences of attack and approach are greater. 



Q. Now, what is known about the spawning-grounds of codfish ? A. 

 We lack positive information in regard to the spawning-grounds of this 

 fish, except that we know single localities. We know the Lofodon Isl- 

 ands are great spawning-grounds. We know that the fish come there 

 almost exclusively for the purpose of spawning. They are not there in 

 the ordinary times of the -year. They come in December and January, 

 and spawn in February and March, and are there in most overwhelm- 

 ing abundance. 



Q. But on the coast of America ? A. We know there is one large 

 pawning-grouud in Cape Cod Bay. 



(}. You mean Massachusetts Bay inside? A. Yes; there is said to 

 be there a long reef about 4 miles wide and about 20 miles long, and 

 the cod go in there and furnish a very important winter fishery. 



Q. Then, I presume, there are similar spots along the whole Ameri- 

 can coast? A. Probably they spawn at the Georges, and undoubtedly 

 in a great many localities in the Bay of St. Lawrence and on the Banks, 

 although 1 cannot speak of that, because I haven't had an opportunity 

 of knowing. 



Q. What are the relations of cod to other fish ? A They are friends 

 and enemies. They are warriors and victims. They are extremely 

 voracious, and devour everything that is small enough, without any 

 kind of consideration, and in turn are consumed in all their stages by 

 such fish as can master them. The adult fish are principally interfered 

 with by horse-mackerel, the bluefish, the porpoise, and by sharks, and 

 anything else big enough to swallow them, instead of being swallowed 

 by them. It is merely a question of size whether the codfish is the 

 active or passive agent. 



Q. Now, what fish do they devour mostly ? A. They eat everything, 

 but they live very largely on herring or mackerel, or any of the small 

 fish found on the sea bottoms. They devour crabs and small lobsters. 

 The stomach of the cod is one of the best dredges you can have. You 

 find there sometimes rare specimens that are never found elsewhere. 



Q. Do they digest the shells ? A. No, they digest the nutriment and 

 then throw out the shells. Sometimes you find the shells packed solid 

 one inside of another like saucers in a pile. The wonder is how they 

 empty them out. 



Q. But they do ? A. I suppose they must. 



By Hon. Mr. Kellogg : 



Q. They devour them whole and then when the meat is digested they 

 eject the shells ? A. The mouth is quite large, and the shell goes out 

 as easily as it goes in. 



By Mr. Dana : 



Q. What do you think are the seasons for spawning on the American 

 coast? A. I presume that, like many other fish, they may spawn over 

 quite a range of time. But, so far as our own observation on the 

 American coast goes, their season is from November until March. In 

 Cape Cod Bay they spawn about December and January. ' 1 have no 

 doubt, however, that farther north, where the changes of temperature 

 are not so abrupt, they may spawn more irregularly, and have only an 

 interval of a few months when there is no spawning. 



Q. Will you describe this spawn so as to show the prolific nature of 

 the tish ? A. The cod is one of the brag fish in regard to spawning. 

 That is, we hear of ordinary multiplication of fish by that process, but 



