268 LOWER VERTEBRATES. 



The sub-family of the typical cods, or Gadinse, is distinguished by the development 

 of three dorsals and two anals, and of complete but moderate ventrals. By far the 

 most important members of the family belong to it, such as the cod-fish, — specifically 

 so-called, — the haddock, the pollock, and the whiting. 



The common cod-fish ( Gadiis morrhua) is not only the most important species of 

 the family, but the most important of fishes to man. It may be briefly defined as a 

 gadine with the lower jaw shutting within the upper, a well-developed barbel, and the 

 anus below the second dorsal fin ; the chief shoulder-girdle bone is lamelliform. Cod 

 or cod-fish is the name by which it is universally known to the English-speaking peoples, 

 but it has also a number of synonyms, either of a local nature or applicable to diEfer- 

 ent stages or conditions. 



Sometimes the species attains a very large size, considerably exceeding one hundred 

 pounds in weight. One taken on George's Bank in 1838, after having been evisce- 

 rated, weighed one hundred and thirty-six pounds. Another, taken in 1873 by a lady 

 of St. Louis, on a fishing excursion at Eastern Point, weighed one hundred and 

 thirty pounds. Captain Atwood, a verj' experienced and educated fisherman, once 

 saw one which weighed as much as one hundred and sixty pounds ; the fish was not 

 much longer than an ordinary fish weighing seventy-five pounds, but was very thick. 



Fig. 152. — Gadus morrhua^ co J. 



Such fishes are, however, entirely exceptional. Captain Atwood has informed us that 

 on the coast of Cape Cod he has never seen a male cod-fish, with the exception just 

 noticed, which weighed more than sixty pounds. In regai'd to the general size of the 

 cod, the same authority remarks that it differs very widely in different localities. 

 When taken on the Grand Bank, it usually requires from thirty to forty to make a 

 quintal when dried. Those caught in the Gulf of St. Lawrence with hand lines are 

 smaller, requiring seventy to eighty per quintal. In the same locality, however, cod 

 are caught with trawl lines requiring only twenty to twenty-five to make a quintal ; 

 while on the coast of Labrador they are all small, and it requires about one hundred 

 to one hundred and ten for a quintal. The average weight of fish taken about Cape 

 Cod is in the neighborhood of ten pounds. 



The name Gadus and cod, if the conjectures of Sir. Brevoort can be implicitly 

 accepted, are words which have had a common origin ; for it is asserted that the word 

 gadus comes from a Sanskrit root, cod or gad, meaning a rod; "we find this root in 

 English in ' goad,' and, perhaps, in cat-o'-nine-tails." Further, the name cod (having 

 the same form among the Anglo-Saxons) is cognate with the word "gad, or goad, 

 a rod." To substantiate the probability of these etymologies, it is afiirmed, as a well- 

 known fact, that the Germans know the fish as " stock-fisch, from stock, a stick." 



