270 
AMERICAN FISHES. 
names “ Rock Trout ” and “ Sea Trout ” are common. The Portuguese 
at Monterey call it “Bodieron.” It reaches a length of fifteen inches 
and a weight of two or three pounds. It ranges from San Luis Obispo to 
Alaska, and is much more generally common than any of the other species, 
and large numbers are brought into the market of San Francisco. It lives 
in rocky places of no great depth. It feeds voraciously on crustaceans and 
worms. It spawns in July. It dies at once on being taken from the 
water, and the flesh becomes rigid and does not keep as well as that of 
the rock-fish. It is a food-fish of fair quality, but not of fine. The sexes 
are very unlike in color, and have been taken for distinct species. 
The Cultus Cod, Ophiodon elongates, is universally called “ Cod-fish,” 
where the true cod is unknown. About Puget Sound the English call it 
“ Ling.” Among the Americans the word “cod” is used with some 
distinctive adjective, as Cultus Cod (“cultus” in the Chinook jargon, 
meaning of little worth ), “Bastard Cod,” “Buffalo Cod,” etc. The 
name “ Blue Cod ” is also given to it from the color of its flesh. The 
name “ Rock Cod ” applied to other Chiroids and to Sehastichthys, and 
thence even transferred to Serranus, comes from an appreciation of their 
affinity to Ophiodon , and not from any supposed resemblance to the true 
cod-fish. The Cultus Cod reaches a length of five feet, and a weight of 
fifty or sixty pounds, the largest specimens being taken in northern waters. 
Many very small ones come into the San Francisco market, being taken 
in the sweep-nets of the paranzelle. These weigh less than a pound ; the 
average of the large ones is from six to ten pounds. It ranges from Santa 
Barbara to Alaska, being very abundant everywhere north of Point Con¬ 
ception. It lives about rocky places, and sometimes in considerable 
depths, and spawns in summer. It feeds upon fishes and Crustacea and is 
excessively voracious. It often swallows a red rockfish when the latter is 
