FISHES OF OUR NORTH ATLANTIC SEABOARD 
3 
Photograph by International Newsreel 
THE “SACRED CODFISH” IN THE BOSTON STATE HOUSE 
In the new Hall of Representatives, in Boston, hangs a wooden Codfish “as a memorial of the impor¬ 
tance of the Cod Fishery to the welfare of this Commonwealth,” in accordance with a resolution passed in 
1784. It may be seen above the transom of the door. Next to the Herring, the Cod is the world’s most 
important economic fish, and the Cod fisheries of the Newfoundland Banks are the oldest in North America. 
Georges Bank, southeast of Gloucester, also is a favorite fishing ground. 
Whether there came a “sport” in the 
family tree at some stage of its history, 
or whether the deviation grew from a 
gradual modification of the adults under 
the influence of their environment, can¬ 
not be said. If it came from the latter, 
selection naturally favored its appearance 
earlier and earlier in the development of 
the fish, until it reached the larval stage. 
Earlier transformation would be disad¬ 
vantageous, since there is a lack of plank¬ 
ton—that imperative, if almost micro¬ 
scopic, food supply of the newly hatched— 
at the sea bottom, and the transformed 
Ashlings would find a scarcity of prov¬ 
ender at a critical period in their lives. 
It has been noted that many transfor¬ 
mations do occur even in the egg; but the 
precocious youngsters thus hatched have 
less chance to survive, and hence are less 
