The Pollacks 



the surface and hatch in 5 or 6 days. The spawning time of 

 this species on our coast is in the fall. 



As a food-fish the pollack is by many highly esteemed. There 

 are those who prefer it to the cod when salted, and others com- 

 mend it most highly when fresh. The liver yields a valuable oil 

 which is doubtless used extensively in adulterating cod-liver oil. 



As a game-fish the pollack has not been fully appreciated. 

 In some localities at least it is a very voracious fish, taking the 

 hook freely and fighting vigorously. In Massachusetts Bay great 

 numbers are caught with a surface bait, but larger fish must be 

 sought at the bottom. North of Cape Cod young pollack afford 

 much sport to fly-fishermen. 



The genus Tlieragra is closely allied to Pollachiiis, from 

 which it differs in the thick, smooth and dense subopercle 

 and postclavicle, bones which are squamous in Pollachiiis. There 

 are also differences in the number of the vertebrae. 



Of the 2 known species, T. chalcograinmns, the Alaska pollack, 

 is the more important. 



This pollack is found in Bering Sea and neighbouring 

 waters south to Sitka and the Kurils. It is excessively abundant 

 throughout Bering Sea, swimming near the surface and furnishing 

 the greater part of the food of the fiir seal. It reaches a length 

 of 3 feet and is doubtless a good food-fish, but no important fishery 

 for it has been established. 



South of Sitka this species is replaced by a closely related 

 one, T. fiicenis, which is abundant in Puget Sound and is 

 found as far south as Monterey Bay. 



510 



