POOR COD. 
497 
18 or 19 branched rays. The fourth or fifth ray is 
the longest. 
The caudal fin is slightly forked, but when it is 
expanded to its full size, the hind margin is quite 
straight. 
The internal organs show no essential differences 
from those of the Whiting, except that the peritoneum 
is more densely mottled with black, and that the py- 
loric appendages are somewhat fewer in number. 
During life the Poor Cod is a handsome fish enough, 
though its colour is more monotonous than that of most 
of its relatives. As is the case with most fishes, the 
colour fades soon after death, its brilliancy is lost, and 
the appearance of the fish is entirely changed. Our 
figure (Plate XXIV, fig. 2) is a fairly accurate repre- 
sentation of the true colour of the Poor Cod during 
life, with all its phases, and we need, therefore, do 
little beyond referring the reader to the figure. The 
whole of the upper part of the body, above the lateral 
line, is of a peculiar, yellowish brown colour, which 
gradually grows lighter down the sides, with a marked 
coppery lustre. The belly is of a somewhat dark, sil- 
very gray, shading distinctly into brassy yellow up the 
sides. The fins are rather dark, of the general colour 
of the body but lighter at the margin, and like the 
body are thickly strewn with fine, black dots. 
The Poor Cod (Sw. glysJcoljan or glysan, Norw. 
kolje) occurs rather sparingly, though it is not rare, 
on the coasts of Scandinavia. Its range is really con- 
fined to the western islands, from Trondhjem Fjord 
south along the coasts of Norway and Bohuslan. In 
the Cattegat is goes as far as Kullen and along the 
Swedish side of the Sound. Mobius and Heincke state 
that on one occasion, in November, 1874, three speci- 
mens between 18 and 23 cm. long were taken off 
Kiel. On the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland it is 
more common, and probably on the north-west coast 
of France, though Moreau remarks that he never suc- 
ceeded in procuring a specimen thence. Steindachner 
found the species both on the west and east coasts of 
the Spanish Peninsula; and, as we shall soon see, there 
is scarcely any reason for establishing a specific distinc- 
tion between the Poor Cod and the “capelan,” which 
sometimes occurs in enormous numbers on the Medi- 
terranean coast, of France, and according to Giglioli 
and Ninni“ is common on both sides of Italy. 
As the Poor Cod frequents fixed and rather cir- 
cumscribed localities, where it collects in companies 
and has its true home, our success in finding it de- 
pends on our previous knowledge of these localities, 
unless we hit upon them by accident. These haunts 
of the Poor Cod lie in deep water, at a depth of about 
12 — 20 fathoms, and on a sandy bottom, close to pre- 
cipitous shelves of rock. According to the fishermen 
it stays here all the year round, a,nd undertakes no 
long journeys. 
The Poor Cod is said to spawn in the first days 
of spring, as in February and March the ovaries are 
full. Risso 6 gives April and May as the months in 
which the Mediterranean capelan is full of roe. Though 
we have as yet no further trustworthy information of 
the manner in which the spawning is performed, we 
may assume that the Poor Cod differs only slightly 
in this respect from the other species of the genus. 
Neither this fish nor its fry are ever seen close in 
shore; and that it does not frequent the littoral region, 
under ordinary circumstances at least, is shown by the 
fact that it is never taken in the seine. It lives on 
small victims, consisting chiefly of crustaceans and 
mollusks. Its flesh is fine and of good flavour, and is 
consumed in the same way as that of the Whiting. 
The insignificant size of the fish renders it better 
adapted, however, to be used as bait for the larger Cods. 
The only tackle used in Scandinavia in fishing for 
the Poor Cod is the hand-line or dorj. By using quite 
small hooks and a bait of common mussel, the Poor 
Cod may be taken freely, for it both bites readily and 
is easily hooked. To ensure success, however, one must 
have an accurate knowledge of the haunts of the fish, 
and the hook must be held close to the bottom. On 
the English and Irish coasts the Poor Cod is taken 
pretty frequently in the trawl or in crab and lobster 
pots. In the Mediterranean it is caught principally in 
the gangui, an engine which in construction and man- 
ner of employment is a compromise between the seine 
and the trawl. (Fries, Smitt.) 
° See the Italian Catalogue of the Fisheries Exhibition at Berlin in 1880. 
b Eur. Merid., tome III, p. 226. 
63 
Scandinavian Fishes. 
