540 FISHES. 



Arctic and temperate zones of the N'orthern Hemisphere. 

 Eighteen species are known, of which the following are the 

 most important : — 



Gadus morrhica, the common " Cod-fish " — in German 

 called " Kabeljau " when fresh and old, " Dorsch " when young 

 and fresh, " Stock-fish " when dried, " Labberdan " when salted 

 ■ — measures from two to four feet, and attains to a weight 

 of one hundred pounds. On the British coasts and in the 

 German Ocean it is generally of a greenish or brownish-olive 

 colour, with numerous yellowish or brown spots. Farther 

 northwards darker-coloured specimens, frequently without 

 any spots, predominate ; and on the Greenland, Iceland, and 

 North Scandinavian coasts the Cod have often a large irregular 

 black blotch on the side. The Cod-fish occurs between 50° 

 and 75° lat. N., in great profusion, to a depth of 120 fathoms, 

 but is not found nearer the Equator than 40° lat. Close to 

 the coast it is met with singly all the year round, but towards 

 the spawning-time it approaches the shore in numbers, which 

 happens in January in England and not before May on the 

 American coasts. The English resorted to the cod-fisheries 

 of Iceland before the year 1415, but since the sixteenth 

 century most vessels go to the banks of Newfoundland, and 

 almost all the preserved Cod consumed during Lent in the 

 various continental countries is imported from across the 

 Atlantic. At one time the Newfoundland cod-fishery rivalled 

 in importance the whale-fishery and the fur trade of North 

 America. Cod-liver oil is prepared from the hver on the 

 Norwegian coast, but also other species of this genus contri- 

 bute to this most important drug. 



Gadus tomcodus abundantly occurs on the American coasts ; 

 it remains within smaller dimensions than the common Cod- 

 fish. Gadus cBgUfinus, the " Haddock " (" Schell-fisch " of the 

 Germans, " Hadot " of the Erench), is distinguished by a black 

 lateral line and a blacldsh spot above the pectoral fin. It 



