THE COD FAMILY. 277 



Greater Fork-beard or Forked Hake. 

 (Phycis blennoides, Briinn.) 



Nothing is at present known concerning the eggs of this 

 species, though in all probability they will be found to be 

 pelagic, and possibly, like the rockling, the hake and the ling — • 

 with an oil-globule. Risso observed that the females were full 

 of roe towards the end of spring and during summer. 



Young specimens of 30 to 35 mm. are of a silvery hue and 

 mackerel-like colour, somewhat resembling the young of the 

 rocklings. The 3 or 4 rays of the long ventral fins are united 

 by a broad membrane with black pigment, as in the rockling 

 and ling. 



In March, one of 12 inches was obtained by Mr Bain, 

 the able Fishery-officer of Peterhead, on the rocks near that 

 town. 



On the 16th of the same month in 1886, an example 

 13^ inches long was procured on the sands of St Andrews 

 after a storm. The ventral fin was 3f inches long and the 

 barbel 1^ inch. This and the preceding were probably in their 

 second year. 



So rare are young specimens on the Swedish and Norwegian 

 coasts, that the authors of the Scandinavian Fishes are of 

 opinion that "the true habitat of the Great Forked Beard 

 does not lie in Scandinavia, and scarcely in British waters, 

 but further south in the Mediterranean." In the latter "the 

 young specimens lead a solitary life among the sea-weed in 

 shallower water (in the littoral zone)"\ The size of the 

 specimens mentioned above, however, irrespective of the con- 

 dition of the ovaries in certain females, would appear to show 

 that breeding takes place in the British area. 



The Ling. (Molua molva, L.) 



The spawning-period of this fish varies from April to June 

 inclusive. 



' op. cit. p. 543. 



