FISHES OF OUR NORTH ATLANTIC SEABOARD 
57 
Photograph from Ewing Galloway 
A FOUR-TON STACK OF FISH IN NOVA SCOTIA 
In the northern regions of the earth where man must necessarily be frugal, no portion of fishes rich in 
oil, such, for instance, as the Cod, is ever wasted. Norwegians mix Cod-heads in the food of their cows for 
the purpose of making them give richer milk. Icelanders give the bones of the Cod to their cattle, and the 
inhabitants of the Peninsula of Kamchatka give them to their dogs. 
WHITING (Merluccius bilinearis) 
{For illustration see Color Plate, page pj) 
Sometimes known as the Silver Hake, this species 
is now coming to preempt the common name 
Whiting—a term which in former days was applied 
in divers localities to various species of fishes 
belonging to as many different families. 
It commonly inhabits the middle depths of the 
ocean or the outer edge of the continental slope, 
but finds its feeding ground at or near the surface, 
where it preys upon schools of Herring and other 
small fish. Usually, when attacking its victims, it 
congregates in schools of considerable numbers. 
Its teeth are sharp, and it possesses a large and 
powerful mouth and a form muscular and lithe, 
which adapts it to rapid locomotion; for it, like 
the Pollock, is essentially a fish of prey. Its average 
length is about a foot. 
Prior to 1880 the breeding habits of the Whiting 
were a mystery. An exploration of the sea bottom 
off Newport, at a depth of from 150 to 300 fathoms, 
revealed immense numbers of young fish from one- 
half an inch to three inches long, and with them 
were many adults from one foot to one and a half 
feet long, apparently in the midst of the spawning 
season. 
The New England Whiting is closely related to 
the European Hake, Merluccius merluccius, and 
to the California Hake, Merluccius productus. It 
appears that the spawning time of the European 
Hake is from January to April. During this period 
both species seem to lose the great voracity which 
characterizes them at other times, and are mostly 
taken at that season in trawls rather than with 
lines. 
