Of an insatiable voracity, the cod swallows all sorts of fish, inclu- 

 ding its own young, mollusks with their shells, and Crustacea with their 

 carapaces. 



In the region of Newfoundland, it feeds chiefly, depending on the sea- 

 son, on herring, capelin, lancets, and squid. The squid, which is its pre- 

 ferred prey, is a cephalopod whose average size rarely exceeds 40 centi- 

 meters which dwells on the banks during summer months in waters whose 

 temperature does not go below 6° C. At this time there exists on the banks 

 in hydrographical conditions of the average year, at about a depth of 35 me- 

 ters, a sharp separation of as much as 9° or 10°, between the cold deep 

 waters where the cod stay and the layer of warmer water which the squid do 

 not leave. It suffices then at the first try to leap above this thermic barrier 

 to seize, in the close ranks of squid, the coveted prey and to return to eat 

 it in the waters of lower temperature. In good years, the fishermen can 

 catch squid close to the surface which they use to bait their line without hav- 

 ing to change their place of anchorage. 



The banks of cod are composed of individuals of the same size and age. 

 It happens that in their displacement some meters from the bottom that the 

 fish are gathered in a school so close-packed that the modern procedure of 

 echo sounding gives a double echo, the first on the school of cod, the second 

 on the bottom. 



In certain circumstances, especially during the capelin season, the cod 

 comes up to shallow waters and stays there as a group. In this case, they 

 scorn the bait of the fishermen. 



The fecundity of the cod equals its voracity. The number of its eggs 

 can attain 6 to 7 millions each spawning, sometimes 9 millions. This is 

 not a record, nevertheless, for certain fish exceed this, the turbot for ex- 

 ample which spawns an average of 12 million eggs. 



The cod was known from remote antiquity on the coast of western Eur- 

 ope. Well into the Middle Ages one found it in abundance not only in the 

 North Sea but also in the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay. During 

 the 11th and 12th centuries, it was the object of a considerable trade, fresh 

 and salted, in most of the ports of Normandy and Brittany. 



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