208 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
of the Alaskan fishing grounds fairly swarm with this kind of life suitable to the wants of the cod. 
The fish which constitute in large measure the food of the cod are herring (Clupea mirabilis), 
capelin (Mallotus villosus), lant (Ammodytes), halibut (Hippoglossus vulgaris), whiting or England 
hake (Pollachius chalcogrammus), sculpinus (Hemilepidotus Jordani and trachurus, also Cottus 
polyacanthocephalus), and yellow-fish or striped fish (Pleurogrammus monopterygius). Sometimes 
young cod are swallowed by older ones. I have seen a species of Iiparis from a cod stomach on 
Portlock Bank. The yellow-fish is the best bait for cod, according to Captain Anderson and 
Captain Caton. Another food-fish of the cod is worthy of mention here, because*of the interest 
which attaches to its common name of “cusk” (Bathymaster signatus), a species very different 
indeed from the cusk which is so much eaten for cod in the Eastern States. 
Mr. Devine says that sick cod are sometimes seen feeding at the surface, and sometimes 
healthy fish will chase bait up. In this way yellow-fish will attract cod to the surface, and capelin 
will also. I have counted forty capelin in one cod taken on Portlock Bank, July 8, 1880. 
REPRODUCTION.—According to Mr. D. C. Bowen, cod about Kodiak come on the rocks in 25 
to 30 fathoms, spawning in November and December. Capt. H. R. Bowen, of the same island, 
states that cod, full of eggs, are caught in February. The eggs are very light straw color, and 
about as large as No. 12 shot. He says that eggs and milt sometimes run from the fish after they 
are caught. 
Capt. J. C. Caton informed me that cod spawn around the Shumagins in February, on sandy 
bottom in shore, and that they will bite freely when spawning. Mr. D. C. Bowen says that at cer- 
tain times spawnirg cod will lie perfectly still on the bottom and not take the hook. 
Mr. Thomas Devine tells me that the Shumagin cod spawn in from 10 to 15 fathoms of water 
in January and February; the size and color of the eggs are the same as in the Eastern cod. The 
wharf at the Pirate Cove fishing-station is sometimes covered with spawn which has run from the 
fish after they were landed. He says that during the breeding season the males are long and slim 
and the females are short and deep. The smallest codfish he has recognized as such were 6 inches 
long, and they appeared in May or June. The smallest ones seen by Captain Bowen were, also, 
six inches long; they made their appearance about July, and were in company with the old fish. 
On the 6th of July, 1880, we seined many young cod in Refuge Cove, Port Chatham, Cook’s 
Inlet, where the water was less than a fathom in depth, and was largely diluted by fresh streams. 
At Belkoffsky, on the peninsula of Aliaska, young cod about one and one-half inches long 
were dredged on the 23d of July. On the following day, while lying on the west side of Oleny 
Island, a cod 14 inches long was found in the stomach of a large one. 
On the 1st and 2q of October we seined many young cod at the head of Chernofisky Bay, 
Unalashka ; from the 6th to the 13th of the same month we saw them in great numbers swimming 
around the wharves at Iliuliuk, Unalashka, very ‘active and wonderfully greedy. We may, there- 
fore, say that from May to October, at least, young cod are found in shallow water near the shore, 
and that about the middle of the latter month they have reached an average length of 4 or 5 
inches. At Tliuliuk, when a jig or a baited hook was let down into the water it would be at once 
surrounded by a throng of nibbling fry, not at all frightened by the presence and antics of numerous 
small boys. These small fish frequently succeeded in fastening themselves on the hooks, and were 
pulled out on the wharf, either to be eaten or used as bait or thrown away. 
DISEASES, PARASITES, ENEMIES.—As a rule all large cod caught in harbors, in shoal water, 
are sick. On the 24th of June, 1880, one was taken in Port Mulgrave, Yakutat Bay, that meas- 
ured 343 inches in length, and was stout and heavy, but sick and unfit for food. The gills were 
not bright red as in a healthy fish, but dull and faded; the colors of the body were also dull. 
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