6 14 THE OCEAN WORLD. 



flesh of most of the species yields white, healthy, and agreeable food, 

 easily separable into flakes when cooked, and easy of digestion. The 

 family includes the several genera : — Morrhna, to which belongs 

 the common cod-fish {M. vulgaris), the haddock {M. ceglefinus) ; 

 Mirlangtts, the whiting {M. vulgaris and M. albus) ; the coal-fish 

 {M. carbonarius) and the pollack (J/, pollachius); Merliiccius, the hake 

 {M. vulgaris) ; Lota, the ling (Z. niolva) ; Motella, the rock ling 

 (tJ/. vulgaris), and silver gade {M. argenteola) ; and other genera of 

 less importance. 



The head of the cod {Morrhua vulgaris) is compressed ; the eyes 

 placed on the side, close to each other, and veiled by a transparent 

 membrane, a conformation which, according to Lacep^de, enables the 

 animal to swim on the surface of the water in northern regions in 

 the midst of mountains of ice and under banks covered with snow, 

 without being dazzled by the brilliant light ; but this opinion is, 

 indeed, unsupported by any other naturalist of note. 



The jaws of the cod-fish are unequal, and among the rows 

 of teeth with which it is armed many are mobile, and can be 

 hidden in their cavities, or raised, according to the will of the 

 animal. The dorsal fins are three in number, as represented in 

 Fig. 383 ; the anal fins are two ; pectoral fins narrow, and termi- 

 nating in a point ; the caudal fin shghtly forked. Its colour is of 

 an ashy grey, spotted with yellow on the back ; white and some- 

 times reddish beneath. 



The cod-fish is provided with a vast stomach, and is very 

 voracious, feeding on fishes, crabs, and molluscs. It is so gluttonous 

 and indiscriminating, that it will even swallow pieces of wood and 

 other similar objects. This is essentially a sea-fish : it is never seen 

 in fresh-water streams or rivers, remaining during the greater part of 

 the year in the depths of the sea. Its habitual sojourn is in the 

 portion of the Northern Ocean lying between the fortieth and sixty- 

 sixth degrees of latitude. 



In the vast range thus frequented by the cod, two large spaces 

 are pointed out which it seems to prefer. The first extends to the 

 coast of Greenland, and the other is limited by Iceland, Norway, the 

 Danish coast, Germany, Holland, and the east and north coast of 

 Great Britain and the Orkney Isles, comprehending the Doggerbank, 

 Vellbank, and Cromer coast, together with salt-water lakes and arms 

 of the sea, such as the Gairloch, Portsoy, and the Moray Firth, 

 which indent the west coast of Scotland, and attract considerable 

 shoals of cod-fish. 



The second range, less generally known, but more celebrated 



