Jordan and Evermann. Fishes of North America. 2541 



2909. GADUS CALLARUS,* Linnaeus. 



(COMMON CODFISH.) 



Head 3| to 4|; depth about 4. D. 14-21-19; A. 20-18. Head large, but 

 varying much in size; maxillary about reaching middle of orbit; occipital 

 keel not greatly developed; teeth strong, cardiform, in narrow bands, 

 those of the outer row in the upper jaw and of the inner row in the lower 

 jaw somewhat enlarged. Eye moderate, about \ length of snout. First 

 dorsal little elevated, its height about length of head; vent under 

 front of second dorsal ; caudal slightly emarginate ; pectorals \ length of 

 head. Greenish or brownish, subject to many variations, sometimes yel- 

 lowish or reddish; back and sides with numerous rounded brownish spots; 

 lateral line pale ; fins dark. North Atlantic, south to Virginia, and France; 

 one of the most important of food-fishes. (Eu.) (Callarias, an old name 

 of the codfish.) 



Oadus callarias, LINNJEUS, Syst. Nat., Ed. x, 252, 1758, young examples, Baltic Sea and 

 oceans of Europe, after Gadus, etc., cauda integra of the Fauna Suecica; CUVIEB, 

 Regne Animal, Ed. 2, vol. n, 332, 1829 ; JORDAN & GILBERT, Synopsis, 804, 1883. 



Gadus morhua, LINN^US, Syst. Nat., Ed. x, 252, 1758, seas of Europe, after Gadus, etc., 

 cauda subcequali of the Fauna Suecica; RICHARDSON, Fauna Bor.-Amer., 242, 1836. 



Gadus barbatus, LINNAEUS, Syst. Nat., Ed. x, i, 252, 1758. 



Gadus vertagus, WALBAUM, Artedi Pise., in, 143, 1792; after Jagershen, KLEIN, Hist. Nat. 

 Pise., V, 7, pi. 2, fig. 1, 1749. 



? Gadus heteroglossus, WALBAUM, I. c., 144; after Hornbogen of KLEIN. 



Gadus arenosus, MITCHILL, Trans. Lit. and Philos. Soc., 1, 1815, 368, New York. 



Gadus rupestris, MITCHILL, Trans. Lit. and Philos. Soc., 1, 1815, 368, New York. 



? Gadus nanus, FABER, Fische Islands, 113, Iceland. 



Morrhua americana, STORER, Hist. Fish Mass., 343, 1867. 



Gadus morrhua, GUNTHER, Cat., iv, 328, 1862; GOODE & BEAN, Oceanic Ichthyology, 354. 



2910. GADUS MACROCEPHALUS, Tilosius. 

 (ALASKA CODFISH.) 



Head 3 in body; depth 4|. D. 13-18-16. A. 21-17; eye 6 in head; 

 maxillary 2; highest dorsal ray 3; pectoral 2-J; middle caudal rays 4. 

 Head large, the snout blunt; mouth large, the maxillary reaching to 

 below front of pupil, snout projecting beyond mouth, lower jaw included; 

 teeth strong, cardiform, in narrow bands 011 jaws and vomer; interor- 

 bital wide, 1 times wider than diameter of eye, very slightly convex. 

 Gill rakers moderate, about equal to pupil in length, 3 + 17 in number. 

 Pectoral reaching to below end of first dorsal ; ends of first dorsal rays 

 reaching second dorsal when fin is depressed; ventrals inserted in front of 

 base of pectorals in distance equal to diameter of eye; veins under front of 

 second dorsal; caudal subtruncate. Color brownish, lighter below, back 

 and sides with numerous brownish spots ; fins, with the exception of first 

 anal and ventrals, dusky. This species is very abundant in Bering Sea, 



* We retain the name Gadus callarias, Linnaeus for the codfish, instead of the com- 

 monly used name Gadus morhua, applied by Linnaeus to the eame species, because the 

 name Gadus callarias stands first on the page on which it occurs. To accord priority to 

 the name standing first is essential to fixity, and not the less so if the competing names 

 are of the same actual date, pnblished by the same author. It is not justice nor elegance, 

 but fixity, which the rules of nomenclature aim to secure. 



