CODFISHES. 
495 
THE POOR, OR POWER GOD (sw. glyskoljan). 
GADUS MINUTUS. 
Plate XXIV, fig. 2. 
Length of the base of the first anal fin more than half the distance between this fin and the tip of the snout. 
Upper jaw most prominent. Length of the lower jaw at least about 48 % of the length of the head , which is 
less than 24 % of the length of the body. Least depth of the tail less than 5 % of the length of the body , than 
43 % of the length of the lower jaw , than 46 % of the distance between the tip of the snout and the hind ex- 
tremity of the maxillary bones , or than 31 % of the length of the base of the third dorsal fin. Distance between 
the tip of the snout and the hind extremity of the maxillary bones , more than 88 % of the length of the lower 
jaw, but less than the length of the ventral fins. Length of the snout less than 8 % of that of the body , than 
70 % of the postorbital length of the head, or than 62 % of the length of the lower jaw. Greatest depth of the 
body generally less than 1 / i of its length , and the greatest thickness, which is about equal to the postorbital length 
of the head, less than 11 % of the length of the body. Coloration like that of the Whiting, but without the black 
spot at the base of the pectoral fin, or with only a faint trace thereof. 
R. hr. 7; D. 12 — 15] 19 — 25 1 9 — 24 ; A. 25— 31 |20“— 22 * 6 ; 
P. 17 — 19; V. 6; C. w +19 — 23 + ,r; Vert. 50. 
Syn. Asellus mollis minor I. omnium minimus, Willughby, Hist. Pise., 
p. 171 (e mari Mediterraneo); Jago apud PiAiUM, Syn. Meth. 
Pise., p. 163 (e littore cornubiensi). 
Gaclus No. 7, Art., Gen., p. 21; No. 8, Syn. p. 36 (ex 
Will, et Jag.). 
Gachis minutus, Lin., Syst. Nat., ed. X, tom. I, p. 253 (ex 
Art.); Jenyns, Man. Brit. Vert. Anim ., p. 444; Fries, 
Skand. Fisk., ed. I, p. 78, v. Wright, tab. 17; Kr., Damn. 
Fiske, vol. II, p. 61; Nilss., Skand. Fn., Fisk., p. 547; 
Thomps., Nat. Hist. Irel., vol. IV, p. 181; Gthr, Cat. 
Brit. Mus., Fish., vol. IV, p. 335; Steind., Stzber. Akad. 
Wiss. Wien, Math. Naturw. Cl., LVII, i (1868), p. 704; 
Coll., Fork. Vid. Selsk. Christ. 1874, Tillsegsh., p. 109; 
ibid. 1879, No. 1, p. 66; Malm (Gudilins'), Gbgs, Boh. 
Fn., p. 484; Winth. ( Gaclus ), Naturb. Tidskr. Kbhvn, ser. 
Ill, vol. XII, p. 29; Day, Fish. Gt. Brit., Irel., vol. I, 
p. 288, tab. LXXXI, Mob., Hoke,. Fisch. Osts., p. 77; 
Storm, Norsk. Vid. Selsk. Skr. (Trondhj.) 1883, p. 33; 
Petersen, Vid. Meddel. Naturh. Foren. Kbhvu 1884, p. 157; 
Lili.j., Sv., Norg. Fisk., vol. II, p. 76; Hansen, Zool. Dan., 
Fiske, p. 66, tab. IX, fig. 3. 
Gadus luscus, Bl., Syst. Ichth., posth. ed. Schneider, p. 8, 
tab. 2; Nilss., Prodr. Ichth. Scand., p. 41; Schagerstr., 
Physiogr. Sallsk. Tidskr. (1838), p. 298. 
Ohs. Like the Bib the Poor, or Power Cod of the English fisher- 
men and the capelan of the French has been best known and easiest 
to determine, from remote times, by these names, given it originally 
by fishermen and in trade. Willughby and Bay did not know the 
English form, and on their authority Linnaeus clung to the opinion 
that Gadus minutus occurred only in the Mediterranean. Jago had, 
however, referred both forms to the same species; and Artedi ap- 
proved of this identification, but suffered the species to retain an in- 
correct character (ano in medio corporis ) which was one of the causes 
that betrayed Bloch ( Fische Deutschlands, II, p. 167, tab. LXVII, 
fig. 1) into confounding Gadus minutus with a young Gadus callarias. 
In this way Gadus minutus was introduced into the Swedish fauna 
in Retzius’s edition of the Fauna suecica of Linn.eus (p. 319); and 
when Nilsson in his Prodromes undertook to correct the mistake, he 
consulted Bloch’s posthumous work, where a Poor Cod is evidently 
figured under the name of Gadus luscus. 
The Poor Cod is one of the two smallest species 
of this genus that still inhabit Scandinavian waters. 
Its length is usually between 15 and 20 cm., and sel- 
dom exceeds 23 cm.' That which distinguishes the 
Poor Cod at the first glance from most of the other 
species, is the deeper and more compressed form of the 
body, the eminently large eyes, the large and distinct 
scales, and the 'plain colour of the body. 
The greatest depth of the body, which in this 
species occurs between the beginning of the second 
dorsal tin and the vent, is in young specimens about 
equal to the length of the head, but in old somewhat 
greater, thus varying between 19 1 / 2 and 2 4 1 / 2 % of the 
length of the body. The greatest breadth (thickness) 
is about equal to half the greatest depth or somewhat 
less, and we have never found it to be quite so much as 
11 % of the length of the body, though very nearly so. 
The forehead is slightly convex, and curves down- 
ward towards the short, blunt, and sloping snout. The 
° Sometimes 17, according to Lilljeborg. 
6 Sometimes 23, according to KrOyer. 
c Nilsson, according to his own statement, however, had seen a specimen 26 cm. in length. 
