THE ALASKA POLLOCK. 233 



the Atlantic species. It is possibly identical with the 'Beshow' of the Makah Indians, the 'Coal- 

 fish ' of the English settlers northward, a deep-water fish noted for its rich, fat flesh. It reaches a 

 length of about two feet. It ranges from Monterey to Behring's Straits. It is taken with hook 

 and line in deep water, and is never plentiful south of Cape Flattery. It feeds upon anchovies 

 and the like. Nothing is known of its breeding habits, enemies, or diseases, and, unless it be the 

 'Beshow' above noticed, it is not sufficiently abundant to attract any notice as an article of food." 



69. THE CUSK— BROSMIUS BROSME. 



The Cusk, Brosmius hrosme, is a deep-water species, inhabiting rocky ledges in the Korth 

 Atlantic. It has not been observed south of Cape Cod, but ranges northward to the banks of 

 Newfoundland and of Greenland. It occurs in Iceland and Spitzbergen and along the entire length 

 of the Scandinavian Peninsula, but is not known on the coast of Germany, while Paber states 

 that it just touches the most northern part of Denmark at the Scaw in Jutland, and that it is occa- 

 sionally taken in the Frith of Forth and brought to the Edinburgh market. It is also plentiful 

 about the Faroe Islands. Its range in the Western Atlantic is from latitude 42° to latitude 65°, 

 or beyond ; in the Northeastern Atlantic to latitude 80°, and south to latitude 55°. 



The Massachusetts fishermen tell me that these fish are usually found in considerable abun- 

 dance on newly-discovered ledges, and that great numbers may be taken for a year or two, but 

 that they are soon all caught. Sometimes, after a lapse of years, they may be found again abun- 

 dant on a recently-deserted ground. From these facts it has been reasoned that the Cusk is very 

 local in its habits and rarely changes from one locality to another. 



On the " Broken-ground Ledge " Cusk are said to be abundant at any season, and also on 

 " New Ledge," and Captain Atwood says that they inhabit deep water in rooky localities, not hard, 

 smooth, rocky bottoms, but large, angular rocks. About Cape Cod they are quite rare; he has 

 seen a few to the eastward of and near Cape Cod, but they are more commonly found farther 

 north ; at a rocky spot near the eastern portion of the Middle Bank, between Cape Cod and Cape 

 Ann, large numbers had been taken prior to 1866, and in that year 400 quintals, or probably 60,000 

 pounds of Cusk, had that year been taken by one Provincetown firm. Off Wells Bay, in Maine, 

 about Cape Porpoise, and on Cashe's Ledge, he had also observed them in large quantities. 



The food of the Cusk doubtless consist chiefly of moUusks and small crustaceans. 



Concerning its spawning habits nothing is known, except that, according to Faber, it spawns 

 in April and May on the coast of West and South Ireland. 



The Cusk is considered a very excellent fish, especially for boiling, but there is a very limited 

 demand for it, and most of those which are taken are salted. On account of their low prices, 

 fishermen shun them, and they are hardly in better favor than dogfish. In the spring of 1878 

 they were worth in Gloucester from twenty to fifty cents per hundred, and in August of the same 

 year about one dollar per hundred. One of their peculiar habits, eel -like, renders their capture 

 difficult, and frequently causes the destruction of the fishing-tackle; it is said that after they have 

 taken the hook they curl their tails round the angles of the rock and cling to them with such 

 strength that it is impossible to dislodge them. Fishermen say that when they are brought to 

 the surface the skin rises from the body in great blisters. This they regard as a favorable sign, as 

 showing that the fish are "thrifty," or healthy. The name "Tusk," used for this fish in New- 

 foundland, is now never used in the United States, although it seems to have been in use a century 

 ago, a well-known fishing ground in the Gulf of Maine being known as the "Tusk Eock." 



