CHAPTER VIII 



THE COD FAMILY 



BY JOHN BICKERDVKE, M.A. 



THE large and important Cod Family belongs to the order of Spineless Fishes and the 

 group in which both sides of the head are symmetrical. The Common Cod, the Whit- 

 ing, the Haddock, the Pollack, the Coal-fish, the Hake, the Ling, and the little Rocklings, 

 all belong to this important family, which has one representative in fresh-water, the Burbot, 

 or Eel-pout, found in various rivers in Central and Northern Europe and North America. 



Perhaps the most remarkable member of the Cod Family is the Chiasmodus, \\hich has 

 huge jaws lined with large pointed teeth, and a distensible stomach and abdomen. During 

 the Challenger Expedition a specimen was taken 1,500 fathoms down in the North Atlantic. 

 It had swallowed another fish, a kind of scopelus, more than twice its own size. The stomach 

 of the chiasmodus had swelled to an enormous extent, and had become so thin from distension 

 that the fish inside could be clearly seen through its walls. The scopelus, it is interesting to 

 mention, is a fish brought up sometimes by the dredge from 2,500 fathoms. It occasionally 

 comes to the surface at night, and has phosphorescent spots along its sides, giving out a dim 

 light, which has its uses in the dark depths of the sea. 



To come back to the head of the family, the CoD is a fairly plentiful fish all around the 

 British and Irish coasts, but appears to be decreasing in some waters as time goes on, owing 

 to the over-trawling of the North Sea. Off the coasts of Norway, in the neighbourhood of the 

 Lofoden Islands, the cod are sometimes so thickly packed in shoals that as the fishermen 



Phota by W. 5. Rudland ^ Sons 



81 



WHITING 



Easily distinguished from the eod by the absence of a barbel on the chin 

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