208 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



of the Alaskan fishing grounds fairly swarm with this kind of life suitable to the wants of the cod. 

 The fish which constitute in large measure the food of the cod are herring (Clupca mirabiHs), 

 capelin (Mallotus villosus), lant (Ammodytes), halibut (Hippoglossus vulgaris), whiting or England 

 hake (PoUachius chalcogrammus), sculpius (Hemilcpidotus Jordani and trachurus, also Cottus 

 polyacanthoccphalus), and yellow-fish or striped fish (Plcurogrammus monopterygius). Sometimes 

 young cod are swallowed by older ones. I have seen a species of Liparis from a cod stomach on 

 Portlock Bank. The yellow-fish is the best bait for cod, according to Captain Anderson and 

 Captain Caton. Another food-fish of the cod is worthy of mention here, because of the interest 

 which attaches to its common name of "cask" (Bathy master signatus), a species very different 

 indeed from the cusk which is so much eaten for cod in the Eastern States. 



Mr. Devine says that sick cod are sometimes seen feeding at the surface, and sometimes 

 healthy fish will chase bait up. In this way yellow-fish will attract cod to the surface, and capelin 

 will also. I have counted forty capelin in one cod taken on Portlock Bank, July 8, 1880. 



REPRODUCTION. According to Mr. D. C. Bowen, cod about Kodiak come on the rocks in 25 

 to 30 fathoms, spawning in November and December. Capt. H. R. Bowen, of the same island, 

 states that cod, full of eggs, are caught in February. The eggs are very light straw color, and 

 about as large as No. 12 shot. He says that eggs and milt sometimes run from the fish after they 

 are caught. 



Capt. J. C. Caton informed me that cod spawn around the Shumagins in February, on sandy 

 bottom in shore, and that they will bite freely when spawning. Mr. D. C. Boweu says that at cer- 

 tain times spawning cod will lie perfectly still on the bottom and not take the hook. 



Mr. Thomas Devine tells me that the Shumagin cod spawn in from 10 to 15 fathoms of water 

 in January and February; the size and color of the eggs are the same as in the Eastern cod. The 

 wharf at the Pirate Cove fishing-station is sometimes covered with spawn which has run from the 

 fish after they were lauded. lie says that during the breeding season the males are long and s im 

 and the females are short and deep. The smallest codfish he has recognized as such were G inches 

 long, and they appeared in May or June. The smallest ones seen by Captain Bowen were, also, 

 six inches long; they made their appearance about July, and were in company with the old fish. 



On the Gth of July, 1880, we seined many young cod in Refuge Cove, Port Chatham, Cook's 

 Inlet, where the water was less than a fathom in depth, and was largely diluted by fresh streams. 



At Belkoffsky, on the peninsula of Aliaska, young cod about one and one-half inches long 

 were dredged on the 23d of July. On the following day, while lying on the west side of Oleny 

 Island, a cod 1 inches long was found in the stomach of a large one. 



On the 1st and 2d of October we seined many young cod at the head of Chernoffsky Bay, 

 Unalashka; from the 6th to the ISth of the same month we saw them in great numbers swimming 

 around the wharves at Iliuliuk, Unalashka, very active and wonderfully greedy. "We may, there- 

 fore, say that from May to October, at least, young cod are found in shallow water near the shore, 

 and that about the middle of the latter month they have reached an average length of 4 or 5 

 inches. At Iliuliuk, when a jig or a baited hook was let down into the water it would be at once 

 surrounded by a throng of nibbling fry, not at all frightened by the presence and antics of numerous 

 small boys. These small fish frequently succeeded in fastening themselves on the hooks, and were 

 pulled out on the wharf, either to be eaten or used as bait or thrown away. 



DISEASES, PARASITES, ENEMIES. As a rule all large cod caught in harbors, in shoal water, 

 are sick. On the 24th of June, 1880, one was taken in Port Mulgravo, Yakutat Bay, that meas- 

 ured 34J inches in length, and was stout and heavy, but sick and unfit for food. The gills were 

 not bright red as in a healthy fish, but dull and faded; the colors of the body were also dull. 



