THE COD. 59 



for table while the roe is ripening. The eggs are shed in December and January, and after spawning 

 the fish loses its flavour for some time. This species is one of the most prolific of fishes ; the roe 

 is often heavier than the entire weight of the remainder of the fish ; but in an individual weighing 

 thirty pounds, with a roe of only four pounds and a quarter, it has been calculated that there were 

 as many as 7,000,000 eggs. In some cases the number may be 9,000,000. By the end of May 

 the young are nearly an inch long, but they are never fit for market till the second year. The largest 

 Cod caught on the Newfoundland banks occasionally reach a hundredweight, but the heaviest met 

 with on British shores, caught between the Scilly Isles and Cornwall, have not weighed more 

 than fifty-six pounds. 



Yarrell mentions that in some parts of Scotland, as in Orkney, Fife, and Galloway, Cod have 

 been kept in salt-water ponds which communicate with the sea by natural fissures. Here they 

 become quite tame, and greet with open mouths the keeper who brings them boiled whelks and 

 limpets. One is mentioned as having lived at Logan, in Galloway, for fifteen years. The Cod thrives 

 well in confinement, and in one case, where they were retainel in a pond separated from the Firth of 

 Forth, they fed readily on sprats, young herrings, and other small fish, and devoured with evident 

 relish the intestines of sheep. The Cod fishery has been carried on in the German Ocean since the 

 latter part of the fourteenth century. The fish has long been found on the coast of Norfolk, 

 Lincoln, and Northumberland, and especially on the Dogger Bank. It abounds around the coast 

 of Ireland, and particularly on the Rockall Bank. The banks of Newfoundland and adjacent coasts 

 have been fished since the year 1 500. Here one man may take up wards of five hundred fish in a 

 day, and in a year he is reckoned to capture ten thousand, though sometimes fifteen thousand may 

 be caught in a single voyage. The present writer has seen small Cod caught in the Thames between 

 Woolwich and Gravesend. When Cod are of the size of Whiting they are termed Codlings and 

 <( Skinners ; " when they are larger they are known to the fishmongers as " tumbling " or " Tamlin " 

 Cod. Of late years a considerable industry has been developed in the manufacture of oil for 

 medicinal purposes from the livers of the Cod, but after spawning, the liver yields no oil. These 

 fish are said to lie chiefly caught for this purpose on the Newfoundland Bank. The air-bladder of 

 the Cod is remarkably thick, and is termed the " sound." When pickled or smoked it is valued as a 

 delicacy, and is cooked by boiling. Large numbers of Cod are di*ied and salted, and thus become 

 distributed to many countries where the fresh fish could not be taken. The Cod caught on the 

 Dogger Bank usually have the nose somewhat elongated in front of the eye, and the body of a dark- 

 brown colour, and this variety extends all round the southern coast of England ; but in Scotland the 

 fish has a round, blunt nose, and the body is of a light-yellowish ash-green colour. Both varieties have 

 the lateral line white like the belly. All the fins are dusky, and the upper part of the body and head 

 are generally mottled and spotted. The head is large, and the breadth of the orbit of the eye is 

 one-sixth of its length. The depth of the body is equal to the length of the head, and the length of 

 the head is to the length of the body, exclusive of the caudal fin, as one to two and a half. The 

 first dorsal fin begins just behind the origin of the pectoral ; the second dorsal commences over the 

 anal aperture. The third dorsal and second anal fins begin and finish at the same points. The 

 tail is nearly square. There are fifty vertebrae. 



Long-line fishing for Cod is carried on by large smacks, which are manned by from nine to eleven 

 men, and remain at sea till a good cargo has been caught. Many of these boats use as many as 180 lines, 

 each forty fathoms long. Each of these lines has a number of smaller lines attached to it, at a fathcm 

 and a half apart, and on these the hooks are placed. The total length of these lines is about eight 

 miles, and they carry 4,680 hooks. The hooks are baited with whelk. The lines are shot into the 

 sea about sunrise, and are laid across the tides so that the short lines, which are called snoods, may 

 be carried away from the main line. No floats of any kind are used to raise the line from the ground, 

 but at every distance of forty fathoms a little anchor is placed to keep the line steady, and at every 

 mile of the length, and at the two ends, a conical buoy with a flag-staff is placed. The line is thrown 

 out at half tide, and hauled up when the tide is nearly done. The fish are taken off the hook, 

 have the air-bladder punctured, and are then put into the well of the ship, which occupies its central 

 part. A constant supply of fresh water from the sea comes in through holes bored below the water 

 line, and here the Cod will live for a long time in fair weather. If they die from being knocked 



