SILVERY GADE. 195 



SUBBRACHIAL 



MALACOPTERYGII. GADID&. 



THE SILVERY GADE. 



Motella argenteola, YARRELL. 



Gadus argenteolus, Silvery Gade, MONTAGU, Mem. Wern. Soc. vol. ii. pt. 2, 



p. 449. 



THE following is Colonel Montagu's account of this small 

 fish : " There is a small species of Gadus , which is occa- 

 sionally found on the western coast, that is nearly allied to 

 the Three-Bearded Cod (Rockling) in most particulars ; but 

 the shape of the head and the colour are essentially different. 

 It has very much the appearance of the fry of some larger 

 species, and might have been suspected to be the young of 

 the Ling, had it not been for a little difference in the first 

 dorsal fin, and the two cirri which this has before the nostrils. 

 If a fourth cirrus could have been discovered, suspicions 

 would have arisen whether it might not have been the dm- 

 brius of Gmelin. Its essential characters may stand thus : 



" With two dorsal fins, the anterior very obscure, except 

 the first ray, which is much the longest : cirri three, two be- 

 fore the nostrils, and one on the chin : upper jaw longest : 

 back bluish green ; sides and belly silvery. 



" The head is obtuse ; eyes lateral, irides silvery : all the 

 fins are of a pale colour, and the whole fish is of a silvery 

 resplendence, except the back, which is blue, changeable 

 to dark green : the pectoral fin is rounded with sixteen or 

 eighteen rays ; ventral, six or seven, the middle ray consider- 

 ably the longest, and placed much before the pectoral : first 



