250 SALT-WATER FISHES 



plumpness of outline sooner than the young cod. Curiously 

 enough, too, young cod and whiting have their own special 

 parasite, while another species has been found in constant 

 association with young flounders in brackish water. 



The Pout, Bib, or Blain (G. luscus, the Tacaud of the 

 French fishermen) is among the commonest fish in our seas, 

 particularly in the English Channel, and appears to possess 

 less of the migratory instinct than most other members of 

 the family. At any rate, there are on difi^erent parts of the 

 coast rocky inshore grounds on which it is to be found 

 throughout the year. Wherever there are gulleys in the 

 submerged reefs, at depths of from 3 to 60 fathoms (and 

 probably more, though that may be regarded as the limit 

 for convenient capture on hand-lines), pout are almost certain 

 to abound, though they are found to prefer some reefs to 

 others in the immediate neighbourhood. With all their 

 stationary habits, however, these fish must be continually 

 on the move, for it sometimes happens that a score of boats 

 will anchor one evening on a favourite spot for pout — an 

 old sunken wreck, well encrusted and weed-grown, is even 

 better than a reef of rocks — ^and catch them by hundreds, 

 until there are apparently none left to take the bait. Yet 

 the next morning as many boats may repair to the same 

 ground and make as great a catch as the evening before. 



Though rarely exposed for sale, like cod or whiting, by 

 fishmongers, the pout is a very familiar fish at our seaside 

 resorts, particularly on the south coast. It is distinguished 

 from other British members of the family by its beautiful 

 dark bronze colour (though a similar bronze is seen in the 

 newly caught haddock) and by the dark bands down the 

 sides. The depth is also great in proportion to the length, 

 and the ventral fins are conspicuously long, while the barbel 

 on the chin is also fairly large in proportion to the size of 

 the fish. 



The pout feeds close to the rocks, even wandering during 



