282 THE COD FAMILY. 



of the fin-rays have become free. They arise in front of the 

 free portion of the pectoral, and the longest ray extends rather 

 beyond the extreme tip of the latter. The barbel is very 

 long and has greyish pigment. This stage up to 9 inches 

 long frequents the rocky margins of the shore and is probably 

 from 15 to 18 months old. Dr Fulton speaks of young ling as 

 occurring in the Firth of Forth about September to a length 

 of 12 inches. At the length of 16 inches Prof Smitt, who gives 

 a fine coloured figure \ observes that the ground colour of the 

 body is now reddish-brown above and milk-white below. The 

 orange or pale olive colour of the dorsal line in the earlier stage 

 has now extended over both dorsal fins, which are edged with 

 yellowish white, and each with a black spot behind, the latter 

 being more or less continued forward along the margin of the 

 fin by a dark band below the white edge, which is either in- 

 terrupted or broken up into small spots. The markings of the 

 anal fin arc similar, though the ground-colour resembles that of 

 the belly, with a stronger tinge of grey. The caudal fin is of 

 the ground-colour of the dorsal side, with the free edge broken 

 up into spots. On this fin as well as on the sides of the body 

 and the dorsal fins, traces of the opalescent stripe of the earlier 

 stages appear in the form of iiTegular touches of violet and 

 light blue. The pectorals are ashy-blue at the base, orange- 

 yellow distally. The ventral fins are similar to the neighbouring 

 surface. The barbel and the tip of the lower jaw are darker. 



Later the young ling appear to migrate seawards and are 

 caught usually far out at sea; the spots and bands of the 

 younger examples gradually growing more and more faint, and 

 in the adult the coloration is more or less uniform, the upper 

 parts being greyish-brown or greenish, and the belly greyish- 

 white, though variations occasionally occur. 



Little is known with regard to the size of the ling 

 when sexual maturity is reached, but data are to hand which 

 show that this fish is the most prolific of all the food-fishes 

 which have been investigated. F. Day quotes an instance of 

 a ling of 100 lbs. in weight which was estimated to contain no 

 less a number than 160,000,000 eggs ! 



1 Scand. Fishes, pp. 528, 529, PI. 26, f. 2. 



