GENUS MELANOGRAMMUS GILL 



The Haddocks 



This genus is distinguished from the GaJiis bv its smaller 

 mouth, the produced first dorsal fin, the black lateral line, 

 and especially by the great enlargement of the hypocoracoid, 

 which is dense and ivory-like. The lateral line is always black. 

 The single species is the common haddock, M. crglejiniis, which 

 is of more restricted distribution than the cod. 



On our coast it probably does not occur north of the Strait 

 of Belle Isle, and the southern limit of its range is off Cape Hat- 

 teras in deep water. It is found also from Iceland to France, 

 and is particularly abundant on all the shores of Great Britain 

 and the North Sea. They are abundant on the Massachusetts 

 coast in summer, and it is then that the largest catches are 

 made there as well as on the off-shore banks in the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence. On our coast there has been great variation in 

 the abundance of the haddock; during some years it abounds, while 

 in others it is very rare, the cause of which is not understood. 

 They are more gregarious than the cod, swimming together in 

 large compact schools from place to place. 



The food of the haddock consists largely of invertebrates, 

 although it is really omnivorous, and Professor Verrill has said 

 that a complete list of the animals eaten by the haddock would 

 doubtless include all the species of mollusks belongino- to the 

 New England coast fauna. The haddock is rarely seen at the 



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