FISHES 145 



way, Sweden, Great Britain, and France. The catch of 

 cod for the world is estimated to be $20,000,000 annually. 

 Codfish are found in the northern part of both the Atlantic 

 and Pacific Oceans, but the Alaskan cod is not considered to 

 be as fine a food fish as the Atlantic species. 



FIG. 108. The codfish. (Goode.) 



The cod is a deep water fish and is usually caught in from 

 thirty to seventy fathoms (a fathom being six feet). Cod 

 are caught off the coast of Newfoundland, and during the 

 winter as far south as the Middle States. " From the earliest 

 settlement of America the cod has been the most valuable of 

 our Atlantic Coast fishes. Indeed the codfish of the Banks 

 of Newfoundland was one of the principal inducements which 

 led England to establish colonies in America, and in the rec- 

 ords of early voyages are many references to the abundance 

 of codfish along our shores. ... So important was the cod 

 in the early history of this country that it was placed upon 

 the colonial seal of Massachusetts, and it was also placed 

 upon a Nova Scotian bank-note, with the legend ' Success to 

 the Fisheries.' "* 



The average weight of large cod is said to be from twenty 



1 From Jordan and Evermann's "American Food and Game 

 Fishes." Every student of this fish work should read Kipling's 

 "Captains Courageous" for description of the cod fisheries on the 

 Grand Banks. 



