268 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



Americans the word "coil" is used with some distinctive adjective, as Cultus Cod ("cultus" mean- 

 ing, in the Chinook jargon, of little worth), "Bastard Cod," "Buffalo Cod," etc. The name "Blue 

 Cod" is also given to it from the color of its flesh. The name "Rock Cod" applied to other Chiroids 

 and to Sebastichthys, and thence even transferred to Serranus, comes from an appreciation of their 

 affinity to Ophiodon, and not from any supposed resemblance to the true codfish. The Cultus Cod 

 reaches a length of five feet, and a weight of fifty or sixty pounds, the largest specimens being 

 taken in northern waters. Many very small ones come into the San Francisco market, being taken 

 in the sweep-nets of the paranzelle. These weigh less than a pound; the average of the large ones 

 is from six to ten pounds. It ranges from Santa Barbara to Alaska, being very abundant every- 

 where north of Point Concepcion. It lives about rocky places, and sometimes in considerable 

 depths, and spawns in summer. It feeds upon fishes and Crustacea and is excessively voracious. 

 It often swallows a red rock-fish when the latter is on the hook, and is thus taken. Like other 

 large fishes, it is subject to the attacks of the hag-fish (Polistotrema). As a food-fish it holds a 

 high rank, being considered rather superior to the rock-fish. From its great abundance, it is one 

 of the most important fishes on the Pacific coast. 



Zaniolepis latipinnis Girard. This species ranges from San Francisco northward in deep 

 water. It reaches a length of about a foot, and is of no economic value. 



Oxylebius pictw Gill. This bright-colored little fish ranges from Santa Barbara to Vancouver's 

 Island, living among rocks near shore. It reaches a length of six inches, is rarely taken, and then 

 used only for bait. 



Myriolepw zonifer Lock. The single specimen known was takeu at Monterey. 



BLACK CANDLE-PISH (Anoplopoma fimbria (Pallas) Gill). This species is known in Puget 

 Sound by the name of "Horse-mackerel." At San Francisco it is usually called "Candle-fish." 

 In the markets it is sometimes fraudulently sold as Spanish mackerel. It reaches a length of 

 twenty inches and a weight of five pounds. It ranges from Monterey northward to Sitka, in rather 

 deep water, and is generally common, especially northward. At Seattle it is one of the most 

 abundant fishes, but in the San Francisco market it is seldom seen in large numbers. It feeds on 

 crustaceans, worms, and small fishes. As a food-fish it is held in low esteem, the flesh being rather 

 tough and tasteless. 



In the Straits of Fuca it reaches a much larger size than has been noticed elsewhere. It is here 

 very highly valued by the Indians, according to Mr. Swan. It is called by the Indians " Beshow." 



In Alaska, according to Dr. Bean, the most important chiroid fishes are Ophiodon clongatm, 

 Anoplopoma Jimbria, Hexagrammus decagrammus, H. lagocephalus, H. ordinatus, H. asper, and the 

 " Yellow Fish," " Striped Fish," or "Atka Mackerel," Pleurogrammus monopterygius (Pallas) Gill, 

 which is the chief of them all. This fish is most abundant about the Aleutian chain and the 

 Shumagins, its northern limit as now understood being about Kodiak, and its western limit at 

 Attti. It congregates in immense schools, and can be taken in purse-seines like the mackerel, 

 which it strongly resembles in taste after being salted in the same manner. 



86. THE TAUTOG OR BLACK-FISH TAUTOGA ONITIS. 



NAMES. One of the best known shore species of the Atlantic coast is the Tautog or Black- 

 fish. This fish is now found in greater or less abundance from Saint John, New Brunswick, to 

 Charleston, South Carolina. East of New York it is usually called Tautog, a name of Indian ori- 

 gin, which first occurs in Roger Williams' "Key to American Language," printed in 1643, in which 

 this fish is enumerated among the edible species of Southern New England. "Tautauog" would 

 consequently seem to be a word from the dialect of the Narragansett Indians. On the coast of New 



