316 



CLASSIFICATION OF FISHES. 



older ; and sharks and other fishes attack and devour 

 the full grown ones. To support such countless swarms, 

 there must also be a corresponding fecundity in those 

 animals upon which they feed : these appear to consist of 

 crabs, worms, shell-fish, &c, which frequent the bottom, 

 near to which the cod is almost always found. Great 

 numbers are caught all round our own coasts, particularly 

 on the north and west of Scotland, where, as Mr. Yarrell 

 says, most extensive fisheries are carried on: so that, even 

 in the United Kingdom — which can only be compared 

 to one of the suburbs of the great metropolis of the 

 cod, which is Newfoundland — the catching, curing, 

 and sale of this fish employ thousands of individuals. 

 The cod is caught invariably by hook and line ; and 

 they are so voracious, that they bite at almost any bait. 

 On the banks of Newfoundland, one man will some- 

 times catch from 400 to 550 fish in ten or eleven hours ; 

 and the master of some fishing vessels told Mr. Yarrell, 

 that " eight men, fishing under his orders, off the 

 Dogger-bank, in twenty-five fathom water, have taken 

 eighty score of cod in one day." " The largest cod-fish," 

 observes the same author *, " I have a record of, weighed 

 60 lb. : it was caught in the Bristol Channel, and 

 produced five shillings ; it was considered cheap there 

 at one penny the pound." In Pennant's time, how- 

 ever, the price was even less; for he mentions one caught 

 at Scarborough, which weighed 78 lb., that was sold 

 for one shilling. How satisfied would be the inha- 

 bitants of many of our remote inland towns to pay 

 five times these prices for slices of this most delicious 

 fish ! 



(265.) The fins of the Gadidce, unlike all others of 

 this order, excepting the flat fish, are thick and- fleshy, 

 being covered by the common skin of the body. Hence 

 the rays of many, being slender and close together, can- 

 not always be counted — at least with any degree of cer- 

 tainty : the mouth is always large ; and the jaws, with 

 the fore part of the vomer, are furnished with several 



* Brit. Fishes, vol. U. p. 147. 



