234 SCIENCE OF FISHING. 



United States, the majority coming from the Mississippi River 

 and its tributaries. In a canvass of 38 states all, with the 

 exception of four New England states, reported this fish. 

 The catches reported from Louisiana and Illinois greatly 

 exceeded those from other states. 



CLAMS This term includes the hard clam, quahaug, or 

 round clam; soft or long clam; razor clam or razor fish; 

 surf, sea or hen clam, and various other species. Clams are 

 bivalve mollusks largely used for food and bait, and are 

 found on all our coasts. The clam product of the United 

 States is valued at about $2,000,000 annually. While the 

 quantity of the hard-shell variety but little exceed that of 

 the soft-shell, the value of the former is about two and a half 

 times that of tl^ latter. 



Razor clams are reported from Washington and Massa- 

 chusetts, and surf clams from New York and New Jersey. 

 Hard clams are reported from all the Pacific coast states, 

 from Florida and Louisiana on the Gulf of Mexico, and 

 from all the Atlantic coast states except Maine and New 

 Hampshire. The entire soft-clam product with the exception 

 of a small per cent, of the total, taken in California and 

 Oregon, is taken from the North Atlantic Coast, none being 

 reported south of New Jersey. The clams are taken with 

 tongs, dredges and similar apparatus. 



COD The cod is caught most extensively along the 

 coast of the Middle States, New England, and British Amer- 

 ica, and is not taken in the Atlantic Ocean south of New 

 Jersey. It is most plentiful on the Grand Banks and off 

 the coast of Newfoundland and New England. The weight 

 varies from 3 to 75 pounds. The Alaska cod is found in 

 the Pacific Ocean from Behring sea to Oregon. On account 

 of the length of the trips made by vessels in the Pacific 

 coast fisheries, often extending over a period of several 

 months, the fish taken are salted on the vessels. Massa- 

 chusetts and Maine furnish the salted cod from the Atlantic 



