3482 Fishes. 



The Twaite Shad, Alosa jinta. This species, or the Allice Shad 

 (A. communis), is known to the fishermen, who call it the " Rock-her- 

 ring." 



The Cod, Morrhua vulgaris. (Poullach). Found at all seasons, 

 but most plentifully in the month of March. The half-grown cod are 

 called " Duncans" by the fishermen. The great voracity of this well- 

 known species has often been noticed. The stomach gradually con- 

 tracts when the fish is fasting ; but distends again to a great bulk as 

 the heterogeneous matter is being swallowed. Yet in a great many 

 instances the stomachs of cod caught on the lines of the fishermen are 

 distended and empty, a condition probably to be accounted for by the 

 power which they seem to possess of disgorging their food when they 

 find themselves fixed on the hook, a circumstance which the fishermen 

 have often observed when drawing them on board their boats. The 

 mussel is the most common bait used in the Moray Firth. But at 

 some fishing-stations, as at Lossiemouth, this is occasionally very 

 scarce, when other mollusks, as the limpet {Patella) are resorted to. 

 In the spring of this year (1852), a severe gale from the north caused 

 the sea to break in upon a colony of " Badgers," the local name for a 

 common shell-fish [Lulraria vulgaris), and of "Spout-fish" (Solen 

 Siliqua), and washed ashore many a basket-full of these shell-fish, 

 which for several days supplied the fishermen of Lossiemouth and 

 Stotfield with what they reckoned the most tempting and successful of 

 baits. 



Here, as elsewhere, the cod is known to prey upon the smaller 

 haddocks, whitings, and flounders, particularly when these are caught 

 on the lines ; but to these three species a long list of other fish and 

 smaller fry might be added, including the glutinous hag {Myxine), 

 which is also said to delight in finding its way voluntarily into the 

 cod's stomach when it is wriggling on the fatal hook. As well as the 

 mollusks already mentioned, the cod greedily devours the inhabitants 

 of Fusus antiquus, Buccinum undatum, and of the other larger uni- 

 valves, when they have stretched out their necks too far to be retracted 

 in safety, before they are snatched up and torn from their shelly and 

 otherwise secure domiciles. A small Cephalopod, in the form of a 

 Loligo vulgaris, or of an Octopus vulgaris, or a Tritonia Hombergii, is 

 occasionally found among their dainties. The Crustaceans, however, 

 seem to yield a larger portion of food to the cod-fish than the mollusks 

 supply, at least in the Moray Firth. If the weight or quantity of this 

 food be considered, perhaps the following is the order in which the 

 Crustaceans ought to be ranked, viz.: — Cancer Pagurus, Inachus 



