CHAPTER II. 



THE GADID^E AND PLEURONECTIDJ5. 



| HE Gadidce family is very numerous, and in- 

 cludes some of the fish most important from 

 a commercial point of view, and most valued 

 as additions to our food supplies. It belongs 

 to the sub-order Anacanthini (or " soft rays") of the order 

 Teleostei ; and its principal members are the cod, the 

 haddock, the whiting, and the ling. These are popularly 

 known (as well as the Pleuronectidce) as " white-fish." 

 Let us deal with them in the order in which we have 

 named them. 



The COD (Gadus morrhua, or Morrhua vulgaris) is so 

 well known as scarcely to require description ; but the 

 distinctive features of the genus to which it belongs are 

 the three dorsal fins, two anal fins, and a barbule beneath 

 the chin. It is a large, plump, solid fish, frequently 

 attaining the weight of one hundred pounds ; but, whether 

 large or small, is always nutritious and well-flavoured. 

 Its reproductive power is enormous ; the roe of the female 

 has been estimated to contain from four to nine millions 

 of eggs ; * a reproductive power rendered necessary to 



* Leuwenhoeck counted 9,344,000 eggs in a single female. 



