230 
The 'Hiftory ©fANIMALS, 
G A D U S, 
T H E head of the Gadus is ufually compreffed, but in fottie few of the fpecies 
it varies from this, and is depreffed: the back is furnifhed ufually with three 
fins, but in fome fpecies only with two: the branchioflege membrane on each fide 
contains feven bones, of a fomewhat cylindric figure. 
Befide the difference in the number of the back fins, fome of the Gadi have cirri 
at their mouths, and others have not: they may, from thefe obvious differences, be 
arranged under two or three diflind divifions. 
GADI. Divijon the Firfl . 
l*hofe which have three Jim on the back> and have no cirri, 
Gadus dorfo tripterygio^ ore imherhi , maxilla fuperiore Ion - 
giore, albus . 
*The white Gadus with no beards , and with three Jns on the JKKfjlttttJJ* 
back j and the upper jaw longej . 
The head of this fpecies is compreffed, in general; but, when the mouth is fhut, 
it is, toward the extremity, a little depreffed ; the body alfo is compreffed : the back 
is convex; the anus is at a great diflance from the tail, and is indeed very near the 
head : the colour of the whole fifh is a filvery white, except that on the back there is 
an admixture of a blackifh tinge, which gives it a hoary appearance: the feales are 
very fmall, and are roundifh and white; the upper jaw ftands prominent beyond the 
under, infomuch that, when the mouth is fhut, the teeth of it fall over the lower : 
the noflrils have each a double aperture, and are placed high, being much nearer to 
the eyes than to the extremity of the roflrum : the eyes are very large, and the iris is 
filvery; the pupil is very large and bluifh : the teeth are very numerous; there are fe- 
veral feries of them in the upper jaw, but thofe of the outer feries are longer than any 
of the others, but they are not all alike in magnitude ; in the lower jaw there is only 
one feries, but the teeth are in this alfo very unequal in fize j in the anterior part of 
the palate there is a bone furnifhed with a number of fmall teeth, forming two fides 
of a triangle ; and in the upper part of the fauces there are two little bones, of a round¬ 
ifh figure, and in the lower part two others that are more oblong; thefe four are all 
furnifhed with a number of teeth : the middle of the palate is fmooth, as is alfo the 
tongue ; there are nine or more punda on each fide of the upper jaw, and there are 
no beards at the mouth : the lateral line is of a dufky or blackifh colour, and is crook¬ 
ed, and runs much nearer the back than the belly; and there is on each fide of the 
body a large black fpot, at the origin of the pedoral fins. 
The pedoral fins are of a greyifh colour, and have each twenty-one bones or rays; 
the ventral fins are fituated more forward than the pedoral; they are of a whitifh co¬ 
lour, and have each fix rays: there are on the back three fins of thefe ; the firfl is 
triangular, and has twenty-one rays ; the pinnae ani are two, and have, the firfl thirty- 
three, the fecond twenty-three, rays ; they are both of a whitifh colour, and the firfl is 
of an oblong figure and larger, the fecond fhort and fmall: the tail is even at the ex¬ 
tremity, and is of a blackifh colour; it has thirty-one rays; the vertebras are fifty- 
four. 
This fpecies is frequent in our feas, and is much efleemed at our tables. The mo¬ 
dern writers of fifhes have all deferibed it, but they have been flrangely confufed in 
their naming it; they all make it an Afellus; but Ray and Willughby call it Afellus 
mollis major; Charleton, on the other hand, Afellus mollis minor; Rondeletius calls 
it Afelli fecunda fpecies; Schoneveldt, Afellus candidus primus; Aldrovand, Afellus 
minor alter; Gefner and fome others have alfo called it Merlangus. 
Gadus 
