130 THE COMMERCIAL SEA FISHES OF 



of parasites as some examples are of a light colour, but 

 speckled, especially over the upper half of the body and 

 fins, with small black dots, which under a magnifying glass 

 are seen to be round elevations, some of which have small 

 orifices in their centres. The fins are edged with black. 

 Codlings are frequently yellow, or even of a red colour, 

 while living among rocks ; they do not assume their adult 

 livery until they change their residence. Edward, at Banff, 

 alludes to occasionally meeting with red codlings, which 

 most frequently had yellow fins ; none exceeded the size 

 of the common haddock. In the Isle of Man, where they 

 are known as Boddagh ruy, they are not found in very deep 

 water, but generally in rocky localities near the shore. 

 Thompson saw one in Ireland of a pale lilac-gray colour, 

 closely studded over with large reddish-gray spots, which 

 were as close together as in any species of trout. Parnell 

 found the red cod the firmest for eating, and remarked 

 that they resided in very deep water, feeding almost 

 entirely on young lobsters and star-fish. 



Habits. A voracious fish, which, as a rule, feeds near 

 the ground. It is indiscriminate in its choice, consuming 

 whatever inhabitants of the deep it is able to master. The 

 most elaborate investigations into the life history of this fish 

 have been made by Sars off the coast of Norway. Large 

 cod fisheries begin along the north-west coast of Norway, 

 generally in the winter ; consequently, the fish would seem 

 to commence arriving all about the same time, and though 

 each school does not follow the identical course of the one 

 preceding it, they may be imagined as coming in numerous 

 parallel lines, and in a north-easterly direction from the 

 great deep towards the shore. The chief fisheries are in 

 the middle of the winter, or first four months of the year, 

 and about the same time as the great spring herring 



