264 LING COD FISH. Class IV. 



feet long. The body is very slender ; the 

 head flat; the upper jaw the longer; the teeth 

 in that jaw small and very numerous ; in the 

 lower, few, slender, and sharp; on the chin 

 is a small beard. The first dorsal fin is small, 

 placed near the head, and consists of fifteen 

 rays ; the second is very long, reaching almost 

 to the tail, and consists of sixty-five rays ; the 

 pectoral fins have fifteen radiated rays; the 

 ventral fins six ; the anal sixty-two ; the tail 

 is rounded at the end. These fishes vary in 

 color, some being of an olive hue on the sides 

 and back, others cinereous ; the belly white. 

 The ventral fins white; the dorsal and anal 

 edged with white. The tail marked near the 

 end with a transverse black bar, and tipt with 

 white. 



