274 



LOWER VERTEBRATES. 



Like its kind, the burbot is a voracious feeder, and few animals living in the same 

 waters are exempt from its attacks ; even stones have been repeatedly found in its 

 stomach. The hours of darkness are those in which it is most active in search of 

 prey, and when the iishermen chiefly seek for it. 



The spawning season appears to be mid-winter to early spring. The eggs are mod- 

 erately numerous, an average size female maturing about 160,000 to 180,000 eggs, but 

 in large individuals they are more numerous. The eggs readily separate from each 

 other, and are deposited on the bottom. The young are mostly hatched in about 

 three or four weeks, according to temperature. At first they move but little, and in a 

 circle ; later, and when fully developed, they swim by quick movements of their pec- 

 toral fins. 



Difference of opinion prevails as to the edible qualities of the burbot. It is 



Fig. 155. — McKrunis aitstralis. 



rarely eaten in the United States, except the liver, and is regarded as an unmarketable 

 soft fish. There are, however, exceptions. About Winnepiseogee Lake, for example, 

 it is said to be " highly esteemed," and in Montana " the soldiers eat all they can get 

 of them." A noted angler, Mr. Charles Lanman, even thought that " the flesh of the 

 fresh-water cusk," as he called it, " is white, firm, and of good flavor. The liver and 

 roe are considered delicious." 



A peculiar use has been found for the burbot in Siberia. According to Mr. Dall, 

 the skins are used as a substitute for glass in windows. 



A family (Merluciid^) closely related to the Gadida is represented by fishes of an 

 elongated, compact, and powerful form, covered with regular bi-ight scales, with a head 

 above excavated by a median cavity, bounded behind by ridges diverging from the 

 supra-occipital crest. There are two dorsal fins — the first complete and short, the 

 second long and sinuated. The anal resembles the second dorsal. The pectoral fins 

 are long, and rather narrow ; the ventral fins thoracic and complete. Only one genus 

 of this family has been recognized. The species are distributed quite generally in the 

 temperate and moderately cool seas, both in the northern and southern hemispheres. 



