304- THE COD. 



shores being nearly black, and those which prefer the sand taking a yellower hue. 

 Generally the eyes and the colour are on the right side, but reversed specimens are very 

 common, and in some instances the fish has been entirely white or wholly brown. The 

 average weight of the Flounder is three or four pounds. 



ONE or two other examples of the British flat fishes deserve a passing notice. 



The COMMON DAB (Platessa limanda) is plentiful upon all the sandy coasts of Great 

 Britain, and may at once be recognised by the roughness of its surface, or structure, which 

 has gained for it the specific title of limauda, or file-backed the Latin word lima signifying 

 a file. Its flesh is very good, and is thought to be in best condition from the end of 

 January to April. Its colour is pale brown, and its length seldom exceeds eight inches 

 Three or four other species of this genus are known on the British coasts. 



A VERY large species of flat fish, the HOLIBUT (Hippoglossus vulgdrts), is also captured 

 off our shores, but the specimens which are exhibited in the London markets are usually 

 brought from the northern fisheries. The flesh is tolerably good, but is rather dry and 

 without much flavour. It is rather longer in proportion to its width than is generally the 

 case among flat fishes. Its colour is brown of different shades, and the surface smooth, 

 the small oval-shaped scales which cover it being soft and without projections. This fish 

 attains a large size, specimens of five feet in length not being uncommon. The largest 

 example on record measured above seven feet in length, and weighed more than three 

 hundred pounds. 



THE well-known COD-FISH is a native of many seas, and in some localities is found in 

 countless legions. 



This most useful fish is captured in vast numbers at certain seasons of the year, and is 

 always taken with the hook and line. The lines are of two descriptions, namely the long 

 lines to which a great number of short lines are attached, and the simple hand-lines which 

 are held by the fishermen. The long lines sometimes run to an extraordinary length, and 

 shorter lines, technically called snoods, are affixed to the long line at definite distances. 

 Whatever may be the length of the snoods, they are fastened at intervals of double their 

 length, so as to guard against the. entanglement of the hooks. For example, if the snoods 

 are six feet long, they are placed twelve feet apart on the line ; if four feet long, eight feet 

 apart, and so on. 



To the end of each snood is attached a baited hook, and as the sharp teeth of the fish 

 might sever a single line, the portion of the snood which is near the hook is composed of 

 a number of separate threads fastened loosely together, so as to permit the teeth to pass 

 between the strands. At each end of the long line is fastened a float or buoy, and when 

 the hooks have been baited with sand launce, limpets, whelks, and similar substances, 

 the line is ready for action. 



The boat, in which the line is ready coiled, makes for the fishing-place, lowers a grapnel 

 or small anchor, to which is attached the buoy at one end of the line, and the vessel then 

 sails off, paying out the line as it proceeds, and always " shooting " the line across the tide, 

 so as to prevent the hooks from being washed against each other, or twisted round the line, 

 which is usually shot in the interval between the ebb and flow of the tide, and hauled 

 in at the end of about six hours. 



As soon as the long line has been fairly shot, and both ends firmly affixed to the 

 grapnels, the fishermen improve the next six hours by angling with short lines, one of 

 which is held in each hand. They thus capture not only Cod-fish, but haddock, whiting, 

 hake, pollack, and various kinds of flat fishes. On favourable occasions the quantity of 

 fish captured by a single boat is very great, one man having taken more than four hundred 

 Cod alone in ten hours. 



The Cod is a most uncertain fish in its habits, sometimes haunting the same locality 

 foi a number of successive years, and then suddenly leaving it and repairing to some spot 

 where not a fish might b.e found on the preceding year. New fishing-grounds are frequently 

 discovered, and it sometimes happens that the fishermen are fortunate enough to alight on 



