FISHES. 369 
beard on the chin ; it has two dorsal fins, two pectoral 
ones, and one ventral. 
These fish abound on the coasts of Great Britain and 
Ireland, and great quantities are salted for home con- 
sumption and exportation. On the eastern coasts of 
England they are in their greatest perfection from the 
beginning of February to the end of May. They spawn 
in June : at this season the males separate from the fe- 
males, who deposit their eggs in the soft oozy ground at 
the mouth of large rivers. 
In a commercial point of view, the Ling may be consi- 
dered a very important fish. Nine hundred thousand 
pounds weight are annually exported from Norway. In 
England these fish are caught and cured in somewhat the 
same manner as the cod. Those which are caught off the 
shores of America are by no means so much esteemed as 
those which frequent the coasts of Great Britain and 
Norway ; and the Ling in the neighbourhood of Iceland 
are so bad, that the inhabitants are unable to find a sale 
for them in any country except their own. The roe, and 
air-bladders, or sounds, of the Ling, are pickled, and sold 
separately. 
The Hake (Gadus merluccius,) is a coarse fish, nearly 
allied to the Ling, and is caught in great abundance on 
the Devonshire and Cornwall coast. It is also found on 
the coasts of Ireland and Scotland, where it is called stock- 
fish, and often confounded with cod. 
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