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BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
rays begin to appear when the young have attained a length of 10 to 13 millimeters, and when 30 
millimeters long many of the adult characters, including the spotted color pattern and scales, 
have developed. 
Young cod live at the surface but descend to the bottom when about 2 or 3 months old, or at 
a length of about 1 to 1)4 inches, and thereafter they are chiefly bottom dwellers, coming to the 
surface only occasionally, as indicated elsewhere. 
The cod was not seen during the present investigation, nor do we find any published record of 
its occurrence in Chesapeake Bay. Some years, however, a few stragglers pass the capes and are 
taken in pound nets between Cape Henry and Ocean View. A set of two-pound nets in Lynnhaven 
Roads caught one cod on March 4, 1919, in the first day’s fishing, but no more were caught during 
that year. The same nets were set on March 12 in 1923, and, on March 16, 16 cod, the only 
ones caught that year, were taken. The number of fish caught on this occasion illustrates the 
schooling habit of the cod. 
The few cod caught in the lower Chesapeake are taken in March only. It is well known that 
cod appear yearly in November each year off the coast of New Jersey, from Seabright to a few 
miles southeast of Cape Henlopen, Del., and fair quantities are caught by hand lines until well into 
December. No doubt some cod continue down the coast late in the fall as far as North Carolina 
(where it has been reported by Smith (1907, p. 382)), but none are caught in November in the Chesa- 
peake. A few fish are present on the New Jersey coast throughout the winter, but in March and 
early April fair-sized schools appear, and for a short period good hand-line fishing is had from Capes 
Henlopen and May to Atlantic City and Seabright. It is during the beginning of this run that a 
few stragglers are sometimes taken in the Chesapeake, and it seems probable that such fish belong 
to small schools that are migrating from North Carolina to the New England coast, their summer 
home. Recent cod-tagging experiments made by the Bureau of Fisheries have proven conclusively 
that cod migrate in the fall from Nantucket Shoals, Mass., at least to Cape Henlopen. No tagging 
has been done in southern waters, but the return of the cod from there to New England in the 
spring follows as a natural sequence. Virtually no fishing is done in the open Atlantic during the 
winter from Cape Henlopen to North Carolina, consequently the rarity of cod records within that 
region can be attributed largely to nonfishing. 
At times cod attain an enormous size; the largest specimen recorded weighed 211)4 pounds 
and was more than 6 feet long. This size, however, is very exceptional, as individuals of more than 
75 pounds are rare. Fish of 50 to 60 pounds are not unusual. The cod is too rare in Chesapeake 
Bay to be of economic importance, as apparently only occasionally a straggler passes between the 
capes. The cod is one of the most highly prized and among the most valuable commercial food 
fishes in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is found in depths as great as 250 fathoms, but most of the 
commercial fishing is done between 10 and 75 fathoms. 
Habitat . — Both sides of the North Atlantic; on the American coast from Greenland and Hudson 
Straits southward to North Carolina; not taken in commercial numbers south of Delaware. 
Chesapeake localities. — (a) Previous records: None. (6) Specimens in collection: None; 
listed in the invoice of the Buchanan Bros, fishery, in Lynnhaven Roads, Va., on March 4, 1919, 
and March 16, 1923. 
56. Genus UROPHYCIS Gill. Codlings; Hakes 
Body rather elongate; head subconic; mouth rather large; maxillary reaching below eye; lower 
jaw included; unequal teeth on jaws and vomer, none on palatines; chin with a small barbel; dorsal 
fins 2, the first one short, the second long and similar to the anal; ventral fins far apart, each con- 
sisting of 3 slender rays, closely joined, appearing like a bifed filament. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES 
a. First dorsal with a produced filamentous ray, its color uniform dusky; dorsal fins with 9 to 11 — 
56 to 61 rays; anal 52 to 56; scales about 104 to 112 chuss, p. 159 
aa. First dorsal low, without a produced ray, its color distally jet black margined with white; 
dorsal fins with 8 or 9 — 46 to 51 rays; anal 43 to 49; scales about 89 to 97 regius, p. 160 
