64 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
LENGTHS OF NANTUCKET COD IN 1928 
Two tagging cruises were made to Nantucket Shoals during 1928 — the first 
from July 14 to 21 and the second from October 24 to 29. 
It was found on the July cruise that the D cod still formed the dominant school 
on the Round Shoal buoy grounds (fig. 23, No. 1) as they did throughout 1926 and 
1927. The very sharp peak made by the D cod in October, 1927 (fig. 20, No. 3), 
had been considerably reduced by July, 1928, due perhaps to the increase in age of 
the fish, which resulted in a greater variability in the lengths and to the appearance 
of a school of smaller cod, E. These E cod, centering around 18 inches long, migrated 
to the Round Shoal buoy grounds some time between October, 1927, and July, 1928. 
It will be noted that these fish appeared in very much the same way as the B cod 
which eventually supplanted the A (fig. 15, No. 1), the C cod which supplanted the 
B (fig. 16, No. 3), and the D cod which replaced the C (fig. 17, Nos. 3 and 4). It is 
Figure 23. — No. 1 = length-frequency distribution of 694 cod caught at Round Shoal buoy July 14-21, 1928. No. I^length-fre- 
quency distribution of 304 cod caught from Round Shoal buoy to Great Rip buoy October 24-29, 1928. No. S=length- 
frequency distribution of 624 cod caught from Round Shoal buoy to Rose and Crown buoy June 10-14, 1929 
possible, therefore, that while the E cod formed a relatively small part of the stock 
of fish in July, 1928, they might become the dominant group on Nantucket Shoals in 
1929 and perhaps in 1930. 
At Great Rip in July unfavorable weather conditions interfered with operations, 
with the result that only a few hours’ fishing was done there and but 54 cod caught. 
The lengths of these are not shown graphically, but 7 fish, or 13 per cent of the catch, 
belonged to the 19-inch size and were possibly E cod; and 28 fish, or 52 per cent, 
belonged to sizes ranging from 23 to 27 inches, suggesting that if a large enough 
sample had been obtained the D cod, which were mostly 23 to 25 inches long at 
Great Rip in October, 1927, would be found still inhabiting this region. 
Out of a total of 748 cod caught at Round Shoal and Great Rip only 4 fish were 
less than 15 inches long and only 8 fish were more than 31 inches long, so that the 
