MIGRATIONS OF COD 
99 
years old, they reach a length of about 7 to 8 centimeters (3 inches) in April when 
about 1 year old. But in tbe warmer water off the southern coast of Iceland and 
around the Faroes “the cod grow much more in their first year.” (Schmidt, 1907, p. 
16-17.) 
Around the Faroes cod spawn from February to May, and by early June the fry 
are about 1 to 2 centimeters long; by August, 5 to 6 centimeters; and by the following 
May and June, at the age of 1 year, 9 to 22 centimeters, with an average of about 16 
centimeters (6.3 inches). At the end of their second year they average about 30 to 
35 centimeters (12 to 14 inches). (Strubberg, 1916, p. 80-84.) 
In the Barents Sea cod 1% years old were found to average about 12 centimeters 
(4% inches) in length. (Hjort, 1914, p. 129.) 
According to these results, European cod grow during their first year to a length 
of about 6 inches in the North Sea, 5 inches around the Faroes and southern Iceland, 
3 inches off the east coast of Iceland, and 4 inches in the Barents Sea. Thus its growth 
is more rapid in the southern part of its range than in the northern. 
Very few catches of cod fry numerous enough for rate-of-growth determinations 
by means of length frequencies have been made in American waters. Bigelow and 
Welsh (1924, p. 420-21) cite the 1% to 3 inch fry caught by Earll (1880) off Cape Ann 
in June, and the experiment of Smith (1901, p. 307), who obtained records of growth 
from the survivors of about 2,000,000 newly hatched larvae which were placed in a 
lagoon at Woods Hole on January 11. The fry were seined periodically and exhibited 
the following growth: 
Table 35. — Lengths of cod fry seined at Woods Hole, Mass 
Date 
Extreme 
lengths, 
milli- 
meters 
Average length 
Date 
Extreme 
lengths, 
milli- 
meters 
Average length 
Milli- 
meters 
Inches 
Milli- 
meters 
Inches 
29-38 
32.9 
1.3 
May 25 
28-68 
64 
2 . 5 
34-49 
40.0 
1.6 
June 6 
71-76 
75 . 5 
3 . 0 
May 13 . - 
35-51 
42.8 
1 . 7 
June 20 
73-77 
75 
3.0 
In addition to these, other cod fry have been seined off Woods Hole during spring 
and summer collecting, and from time to time some of these were preserved and in 
this way became available for study. These specimens, together with others taken 
on Nantucket Shoals by the Albatross II with a small otter trawl, are listed in the 
table which follows : 
Table 36. — The lengths of cod fry less than 6 inches long taken in miscellaneous catches off southern 
Massachusetts, from 1913 to 1927 
Locality and date 
Num- 
ber of 
speci- 
mens 
Range 
in size, 
milli- 
meters 
Average size 
Locality and date 
Num- 
ber of 
speci- 
mens 
Range 
in size, 
milli- 
meters 
Average size 
Milli- 
meters 
Inches 
Milli- 
meters 
Inches 
Woods Hole region: 
Woods Hole region— Contd. 
April, 1913 
5 
36-44 
40 
1.6 
June, 1910 
24 
43-60 
52 
9 O 
Aprilj 1921 
1 
27 
27 
1. 1 
July, 1913 
3 
79-107 
97 
3 ft 
May/ 1916 
7 
47-59 
52 
2.0 
July, 1914 
2 
67-90 
79 
3.1 
May| 1923 
7 
43-70 
56 
2.2 
Nantucket Shoals region: 
May, 1924 
14 
38-43 
40 
1.6 
June, 1927 
17 
61-117 
85 
3.3 
