486 
SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 
Obs. The first column includes specimens respectively 82, 126, 
and 153 mm. in length. The length of the specimens in the second 
column varies between 159 and 216 mm. The earliest stages of 
development thus do not appear in the table. 
Among the other characteristics of the Polar Cod 
both Peters and Collett have remarked the numerous 
muciferous pores on the head, which are set in rows, most 
distinctly in the frontorostral branches of the system of 
the lateral line, between the eyes and on the snout, in 
the anterior portion of the suborbital branches, and in 
the mandibular branches, both on the under jaw and at 
the hind margin of the preoperculum. The lateral line 
proper on the body runs fairly straight, at the top of 
the abdominal region, but descends at the beginning of 
the first dorsal tin. It is not very distinct, is made up 
of elongated ducts, and often breaks up, especially on the 
hind part of the body, into irregularly scattered ductsap- 
pearing on the sides of the tail. The scales are small, ex- 
tremely thin, and not imbricated on any part of the body. 
In coloration the Polar Cod is one of the purest and 
handsomest members of the Reims, above light red, on 
the back itself and the snout brownish, below white or 
silvery, and everywhere, though most densely on the 
back, finely punctated with brownish red. The true 
ventral side alone is sometimes without these small 
spots. The dark, brownish pigment sometimes collects 
into nearly black bars and clouds on the vertical fins; 
and a dark, irregular spot sometimes occurs on the 
sides, above and behind the insertion of the pectoral 
fin, though it is apparently very rare, and never so 
distinctly marked as in the Haddock. The pectoral 
and ventral fins are also punctated. 
The geographical range of the Polar Cod fully 
justifies its name. Parry found it amongst the drift ice 
in lat. 82 3 / 4 ° N., and it occurs almost everywhere in the 
strictly Arctic seas round the pole. The least Arctic 
regions to which it penetrates, are the White Sea, where 
it lives in company with navaga , and Iceland, whence spe- 
cimens were obtained by Steenstrup and described by 
Nilsson. Off Spitsbergen the Polar Cod has been taken 
by all the Swedish expeditions in the sledge-net (little 
trawl) and common dredge, at a depth of from 2 to 30 
or 40 fathoms, on a stony bottom, among seaweed or 
zoophytes. On the 17th of August, 1878, in Magdalena 
Bay, the Norwegian Arctic Expedition took 72 specimens 
at a single haul of the trawl in very deep water. At 
the same time the Vega Expedition met with Polar Cod 
in 5 — 10 fathoms of water in Taimyr Sound, and, soon 
after the expedition had taken up its winter-quarters, off 
Pitlekaj, the species was also found there. At St. Mi- 
chaels’s (Alaska) Turner saw the Esquimaux catch Polar 
Cod by angling at holes in the ice, in about 3 1 / 2 fathoms 
of water. Guntiier 0 mentions a specimen that was taken 
off Cape Hayes in Grinnell Land. According to Fabri- 
Cius the Polar Cod is fairly common in winter, espe- 
cially on the north coast of Greenland, along the shore 
and in the inlets. He states that it may be easily 
allured to the surface, especially at dusk, by splashing 
in the water; and that even the Polar fox has learnt 
this method of catching Polar Cod. In the White Sea 
this form is often taken together with navaga; but its 
flesh, according to Pallas, is poorer than that of the 
latter, and it is, therefore, not sent to St. Petersburg. 
The Polar Cod lives principally on fish-ova and 
small crustaceans, especially Calani, and as they very 
often accompany the drift ice, it follows their example. 
In this manner it may very probably wander on occa- 
sion south of its strict geographical range. 
Up to this point none of the Gadoid species that 
we have described, has been without a barbel under the 
chin. In navaga and sat da the barbel is indeed small, 
but is still present. In the type of the following group, 
the Whiting, the barbel, on the other hand, is gener- 
ally wanting. This group possesses the prominent 
snout of the true Cods, but is distinguished from them 
by the considerably greater length of the base of the 
first anal fin, which, contrary to the general rule in 
their case, here seems to undergo even relative in- 
crease with age, as appears from the following aver- 
ages : 
c 
radus merlangus 
Gadus 
mi nut us 
3 specimens. 
3 specimens. 
2 specimens. 
3 specimens. 
2 specimens. 
Length, of the bodv expressed in millimetres 
177 
350 
408 
152 
207 
Length of the base of the first anal fin in % of the length of the bodv 
30.o 
33.i 
33.9 
27.7 
29.8 
° Account of the Fishes collected by Capt. Fielden between 78° and 83° N. lat., during the Arctic Expedition 1875 — 6 (Proc. Zool. 
Soc. London 1877, p. 293). 
