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THE COMMON COD, 



Which furnishes so considerable an article of food, inhabits 

 the Northern seas in immense shoals, migrating, at certain 

 periods, to the coasts of Europe and America in succession. 

 The general place at which the Cod fish meet is the Banks 

 of Newfoundland. They prefer situations such as these, 

 for the sake of the multitudes of worms which are found 

 in their sandy bottoms. They deposit their spawn in the 

 Polar seas. They are taken in abundance on the south 

 and west coasts of Ireland ; and swarm off Norway, the 

 Orkney and Hebrides' Islands, and in the Baltic ; farther 

 south the numbers decrease, scarcely any being found so 

 low as the Straits of Gibraltar. The Cod Bank forms the 

 riches of Newfoundland. It is about 500 miles long and 

 300 broad, and is known to the seamen from the swelling 

 of the sea and the mists with which it is covered. The 

 water on the banks is usually from twenty-two to fifty 

 fathoms deep, and at its edge from sixty to eighty ; it is 

 much the same on the smaller banks. Extensive as are 

 the fisheries on this bank, they are entirely carried on by 

 the hook and line, baited with herrings, a small fish called 

 capelin, the shell-fish called clams, or pieces of sea fowl. 

 The fishery employs no less than fifteen thousand British 

 seamen, and affords employment to a still greater number 

 to home, in the different manufactures which supply the 

 fishery. The fish, when taken, are cleaned, salted, dried, 

 and carried to various parts of the European continent. 

 The Cod grows to a very large size ; one taken on the 

 British coast was five fe'et eight inches long, five feet 

 round the shoulder, and weighed seventy-eight pounds. 

 The usual weight of those caught in the British seas is 

 from fourteen to forty pounds : those of a middling size 

 are most esteemed for the table. The Cod is moderately 

 long, with a thick belly, middling-sized head, and large 

 eyes. The teeth are very numerous. The dorsal and 

 anal-fins are rather large, the pectoral rather small, the 

 ventral small and slender ; the tail is of moderate size, and 

 even at the end. The usual colour is an ashy grey, 

 generally spotted with dull yellow ; the belly is white or 

 silvery. The food of the Cod consists of small fish, worms, 

 and shell-fish, &c. ; its digestion is so powerful as to 



