THE COD FAMILY 283 



The Cod (Gadus nwrrhua). 



Distinguishing- Characters. The body of the cod is thick and 

 rounded in front, the tail rapidly diminishing in thickness towards 

 its end. The ventral fin begins beneath the fourth or fifth ray of 

 the second dorsal, and the hinder edge of the tail-fin is straight 

 or very slightly curved inwards. The mouth is large, the angle 

 of the jaw being behind the front edge of the eye. The cod 

 reaches and sometimes exceeds the length of 5 feet, and weighs 

 from 30 to 50 Ibs. 



Habitat. On the European coast from the Bay of Biscay 

 to the north of Norway, and on the American coast from Green- 

 land and Iceland to New York. It is not found abundantly 

 beyond a depth of 120 fathoms. 



Dr. Fulton found that the females were more numerous than 

 the males, but not so large : the difference in length however was 

 not great. The proportions are 133 females to 100 males in 

 number, in length 95 to 100. 



On the east coast of Scotland, according to the observations 

 of the Fishery Officers, ripe cod are found in every month from 

 January to June inclusive, but the numbers of individuals in this 

 condition are very small except in the three months, February, 

 March, and April, which form therefore the chief spawning period. 

 At the Lofoten Islands, Sars found the spawning taking place 

 chiefly in March and April. 



The fish seem to approach the coast in order to shed their 

 spawn, at any rate in the Lofoten Islands, where the declivity of 

 the sea-bottom is very rapid. Off the Yorkshire coast in the 

 neighbourhood of Flamborough Head, twenty to forty miles out, 

 large numbers of spawning cod are taken by the trawlers in 

 February and March, and along the east coast of Scotland the 

 cod spawn within these distances and beyond. 



The egg of the cod is like that of the plaice and flounder, &c., 

 having a simple yolk without any oil globule, and only a small 

 space between the yolk and the egg-membrane. It is i'39 mm. 

 (little more than ^V inch) in diameter, almost exactly the same 

 size as the egg of the lemon dab, from which it could scarcely 

 be distinguished in the earlier stages of development. 



Development usually takes place naturally, on account of lati- 



