164 GADID.fc. 



I 



SUBBRACHIAL 



MALACOPTERYG1I. C.AD1DSE. 



THE SPECKLED COD. 



Morrhua punctata, Speckled Cod, FI.EM. Brit. An. p. 192, sp. 81. 

 Gadus punctatus, ,, ,, TUIITON, Brit. Faun. p. 90, sp. 18. 



ACCORDING to Dr. Turton, the Speckled Cod is frequent- 

 ly taken in the weirs at Swansea. The specific characters 

 are, " pale brown with golden spots, beneath white, thickly 

 covered with minute dusky specks : upper jaw longest." 

 The description is, " Body eighteen inches long, slightly 

 arched on the back, a little prominent on the belly, covered 

 above with numerous gold-yellow roundish spots, beneath 

 with dusky specks, which are stellate under a glass : head 

 large, gradually sloping : teeth small ; in several rows in the 

 upper jaw, in the lower a single row : nostrils double ; iris 

 reddish, pupil black : chin with a single beard; nape with 

 a deep longitudinal groove : lateral line nearer the back, 

 curved as far as the middle of the second dorsal fin, growing 

 broader and whiter towards the end : upper fins and tail 

 brown, with obscure yellowish spots, and darker towards the 

 end ; lower ones tinged with green : vent near the middle of 

 the body : scales small ; all of them under a glass minutely 

 speckled with brown : gill-covers of two pieces. The fin- 

 rays : 



D. 14. 20. 18. : P. 18 : V. 6 : A. 19. 16 : C. 36. 



Of the ventral fin the first ray is shorter than the second, and 

 divided a little way down : the tail even." 



" Differs from G. morrhua in not having the first anal fin- 

 ray spinous, and in the lower jaw being considerably longer ; 

 from G. luscus in the first ray of the ventral fin being shorter 

 than the second ; from G. barbatus in wanting the seven dis- 



