212 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



CHAPTER VI. 



FISH OILS AND THE FISHERIES CONNECTED THEREWITH. 



Definition of fish oil — Cod oil — Cod-liver oil — Exports from Newfoundland — 

 Mode of preparation — Exports from Norway — From Iceland — Fish oils 

 in Russia — Indian fish oils — Fishes from which obtained — Tunny oil — 

 Herring oil — Oolachan oil^Menhaden oil— Mode of preparation and 

 statistics. 



The term fish oil is a very vague one, from its being 

 generally applied to oil of all kinds, obtained both from 

 marine mammals and fishes. Train oil from the whale is 

 frequently so termed. Shark oil, and the oil expressed or 

 obtained by heat from various kinds of fish, large and 

 small, is very much mixed as sent into commerce, and it 

 is scarcely possible, unless from a few special districts and 

 large factories, to know what is the true source of the fish 

 oil purchased. There are some few large fisheries, such as 

 the cod, herring, pilchard, sardine, menhaden, etc., where 

 attention is given to the preparation of the oil. 



Cod Oil. — The oil obtained from the cod forms a con- 

 siderable item in the fishing business. About one hogs- 

 head of oil is produced from every five tons of fish. The 

 quantity of oil extracted from cod livers in Newfoundland 

 is about 1,250,000 gallons, valued at ;^200,ooo. Nearly all 



