246 SALT-WATER FISHES 



is far handsomer when first taken from the water, being brown 

 to grey along the sides, with the belly shining white. There 

 are sometimes spots on the grown cod, and the young, known 

 as "codlings," generally exhibit light yellow spots on their 

 head and body. The lateral line in the cod is white, but this, 

 too, like the black lateral line in the haddock, is more notice- 

 able at the fishmonger's than in the water. The fins of some 

 examples are black-edged, and all of them are quite soft, so 

 that the fishes of this group, unlike the bass or bream, may be 

 handled without fear or caution. The body of the cod is less 

 elongated than that of the hake or ling, and more so than that 

 of the pout. Its mouth is very large, the upper jaw usually 

 projecting ; the tongue is fleshy and has no teeth on it, but 

 the teeth in the jaws and on the vomer are many and sharp. 

 The scales are small and easily scraped from the skin. Ab- 

 normal cod-fish with protruding lower jaws are sometimes 

 caught in the North Sea, and are known as " bull-dogs."* 



Mention was made on an earlier page of the three names 

 applied, both on our own coasts and in Australian seas, 

 to diff^erent stages of one of the sea-breams. The cod has also 

 various names, according to size, in the Grimsby market,t and 

 is a codling up to 20 in., a " sprag " from 20 to 30 in., 

 then a " half-cod," until some indefinite final stage, at 

 which it becomes a " cod." The " sprag " is, therefore, on the 

 verge of maturity — that is to say, according to the accepted 

 minimum size at which it reaches that condition. 



The cod feeds close to the bottom as a rule, and is among 

 the most voracious of fishes, though somewhat sluggish in its 

 manner. Great numbers are taken on hand-lines and on long- 

 lines baited with sprats or whelks. Both sea- and land-birds 

 have been taken from the inside of large cod, and there are 

 many stories of books having been recovered all but intact, 



* The same name is applied on the Cornish coast to the streaked 

 gurnard, in allusion to its grunting voice. 



t See Holt, The Grimsby Trawl Fishery, p. 80. 



