GADUS, in ichthyology, a genus of fishes belonging to the order of jugulares. The head is smooth; there are seven cylindrical rays in the branchiostegic membrane; the body is oblong, with deciduous scales; the whole fins are covered with the common skin of the fish; the rays of the back-fins are blunt, and those of the breast are sharp. There are 17 species, principally distinguished by their cirri and the number of back-fins. The most remarkable are,
1. The morhua, or COMMON COD, is found only in the northern parts of the world; it is, as Randeletius calls it, an ocean fish, and never met with in the Mediterranean sea. It affects cold climates, and seems confined between the latitudes 66° and 50°: what are caught north and south of those degrees being either few in quantity or bad in quality. The Greenland fish are small, and emaciated through want of food; being very voracious, and having in those seas a scarcity of provision. This locality of situation is common to many other species of this genus, most of them being inhabitants of the cold seas, or such as lie within regions that can just claim the title of temperate. There are nevertheless certain species found near the Canary-islands, called cherny, of which we know no more than the name; but which, according to Captain Glasc, are better tasted than the Newfoundland kind.
The great rendezvous of the cod-fish is on the banks of Newfoundland, and the other sand-banks that lie off the coasts of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and New England. They prefer those situations, by reason of the quantity of worms produced in those sandy bottoms, which tempt them to resort there for food: but another cause of the particular attachment the fish have to these spots, is their vicinity to the polar seas, where they return to spawn: there they deposit their roes in full security; but want of food forces them, as soon as the first more southern seas are open, to repair thither for subsistence. Few are taken north of Iceland, but on
the south and west coasts they abound: they are again found to swarm on the coasts of Norway, in the Baltic, off the Orkney and the Western Isles; after which their numbers decrease, in proportion as they advance towards the south, when they seem quite to cease before they reach the mouth of the Straits of Gibraltar.
Before the discovery of Newfoundland, the greater fisheries of cod were on the seas of Iceland, and off our Western Isles, which were the grand resort of ships from all the commercial nations; but it seems that the greatest plenty was met with near Iceland. The English resorted thither before the year 1415: for we find that Henry V. was disposed to give the king of Denmark satisfaction for certain irregularities committed on those seas by his subjects. In the reign of Edward IV. the English were excluded from the fishery by treaty; and forbidden to resort there under pain of forfeiture of life and goods. Notwithstanding this, that monarch afterwards gave licence to a ship of Hull to sail to Iceland, and there relade fish and other goods, without regard to any restrictions to the contrary. The right of the English in latter times was far from being confirmed: for we find queen Elizabeth condescending to ask permission to fish in those seas from Christian IV. of Denmark; yet afterwards she so far repented her request, as to instruct her ambassadors at that court to insist on the right of a free and universal fishery. In the reign of her successor, however, they had not fewer than 150 ships employed in the Iceland fishery; which indulgence might arise from the marriage of James with a princess of Denmark. But the Spanish, the French, and the Bretons, had much the advantage of the English in all fisheries at the beginning, as appears by the state of that in the seas of Newfoundland in the year 1578, when the number of ships belonging to each nation stood thus:
Spaniards, 100; besides 20 or 30 that came from Biscay to take whale for train, being about five or six thousand tons.
Portuguese 50, or three thousand tons.
French and Bretons 150, or seven thousand tons.
English, from 50 to 50.
The increase of shipping that resort to those fertile banks, is now unspeakable. Britain still enjoys the greatest share; which ought to be esteemed our chiefest treasure, as it brings wealth to individuals, and strength to the state. See FISHERY.
All this immense fishery is carried on by the hook and line only. We have been informed that they fish from the depth of 16 to 60 fathoms, according to the inequality of the bank, which is represented as a vast mountain, under water, above 500 miles long, and near 300 broad; and that seamen know when they approach it by the great swell of the seas and the thick mist that impend over it. The bait is herring, a small fish called a capelin, a shell-fish called clams, and bits of sea-fowl; and with these are caught fish sufficient to find employ for near 15,000 British seamen, and to afford subsistence to a much more numerous body of people at home, who are engaged in the various manufactures which so vast a fishery demands.
The food of the cod is either small fish, worms, testaceous or crustaceous animals, such as crabs, large whelks, &c. &c.; and their digestion is so powerful, as to dissolve
Cod. dissolve the greatest part of the shells they swallow. They are very voracious, and catch at any small body they perceive moved by the water, even stones and pebbles, which are often found in their stomachs.
Fishermen are well acquainted with the use of the air-bladder or found of the cod; and are very dexterous in perforating this part of a live fish with a needle, in order to disengage the enclosed air: for without this operation it could not be kept under water in the well-boats, and brought fresh to market. The sounds of the cod salted is a delicacy often brought from Newfoundland. Isinglass is also made of this part by the Iceland fishermen: a process which deserves the attention of the natives of the north of Scotland, where these fish are plentiful. It is given under the article ICHTHYOCOLLA.
Providence hath kindly ordained, that this fish, so useful to mankind, should be so very prolific as to supply more than the deficiencies of the multitudes annually taken. Leuwenhoek counted 9,384,000 eggs in a cod-fish of a middling size; a number, sure, that will baffle all the efforts of man, or the voracity of the inhabitants of the ocean, to exterminate, and which will secure to all ages an inexhaustible supply of grateful provision.
In our seas they begin to spawn in January, and deposit their eggs in rough ground, among rocks. Some continue in roe till the beginning of April. The cod-fish in general recover quicker after spawning than any other fish, therefore it is common to take some good ones all the summer. When they are out of season, they are thin-tailed and lousy; and the lice chiefly fix themselves on the inside of their mouths.
The fish of a middling size are most esteemed for the table; and are chosen by their plumpness and roundness, especially near the tail, by the depth of the sulcus or pit behind the head, and by the regular undulated appearance of the sides, as if they were ribbed. The glutinous parts about the head lose their delicate flavour after it has been 24 hours out of the water, even in winter, in which these and other fish of this genus are in highest season.
The largest that we ever heard of taken on our coasts, weighed 78 pounds: the length was five feet eight inches; and the girth round the shoulders, five feet. It was taken at Scarborough in 1755, and was sold for one shilling. But the general weight of these fish in the Yorkshire seas, is from 14 to 40 pounds. This species is short in proportion to its bulk, the belly being very large and prominent.
The jaws are of an equal length, and at the end of the lower is a small beard; the teeth are disposed in the palate as well as in the jaws.
The colour of this fish is cinereous on the back and sides, and commonly spotted with yellow: the belly is white; but they vary much, not only in colour but in shape, particularly that of the head. The sideline is white and broad, straight till it reaches opposite the vent, when it bends towards the tail. Codlings are often taken of a yellow, orange, and even red colour, while they remain among the rocks; but, on changing their place, assume the colour of other cod-fish.
2. The Eglefinus, or HADDOCK. Large haddocks begin to be in roe in the middle of November, and continue so till the end of January; from that time
till May they are very thin tailed, and much out of season. In May they begin to recover; and some of the middling-sized fish are then very good, and continue improving till the time of their greatest perfection. The small ones are extremely good from May till February, and some even in February, March, and April, viz. those which are not old enough to breed.
The fishermen assert, that in rough weather haddocks sink down into the sand and ooze in the bottom of the sea, and shelter themselves there till the storm is over; because in stormy weather they take none, and those that are taken immediately after a storm are covered with mud on their backs.
In summer they live on young herrings and other small fish; in winter, on the stone-coated worms*, which the fishermen call haddock-meat.
The grand shoal of haddocks comes periodically on the Yorkshire coasts. It is remarkable that they appeared in 1766 on the 10th of December, and exactly on the same day in 1767: these shoals extended from the shore near three miles in breadth, and in length from Flamborough-head to Tinmouth-castle, and perhaps much farther northwards. An idea may be given of their numbers by the following fact: Three fishermen, within the distance of a mile from Scarborough harbour, frequently loaded their cable or boat with them twice a-day, taking each time about a ton of fish: when they put down their lines beyond the distance of three miles from the shore, they caught nothing but dog-fish, which shows how exactly these fish keep their limits.
The best haddocks were sold from eightpence to a shilling per score; and the poor had the smaller sort at a penny and sometimes a halfpenny per score.
The large haddocks quit the coast as soon as they go out of season, and leave behind great plenty of small ones. It is said that the large ones visit the coasts of Hamburg and Jutland in the summer.
It is no less remarkable than providential, that all kinds of fish (except mackerel) which frequent the Yorkshire coast, approach the shore, and as it were offer themselves to us, generally remaining there as long as they are in high season, and retire from us when they become unfit for use. It is the commonest species in the London markets. They do not grow to a great bulk, one of 14 pounds being of an uncommon size, but those are extremely coarse; the best for the table weighing from two to three pounds.
The body of the haddock is long: the head slopes down to the nose: the space between the hind-part of the first dorsal-fin is rigid: on the chin is a short beard. On the back are three fins resembling those of the common cod-fish: on each side beyond the gills is a large black spot. Superstition assigns this mark to the impression St Peter left with his finger and thumb when he took the tribute out of the mouth of a fish of this species, which has been continued to the whole race of haddocks ever since that miracle. The lateral line is black: the tail is forked. The colour of the upper part of the body is dusky or brown; the belly and lower part of the sides silvery.
3. The Barbatus, or ROUT, never grows to a large size, seldom exceeding a foot in length. It is distinguished from all others by its great depth; one of the size abovementioned being near four inches deep in
Gadus. in the broadest part. The back is very much arched, and carinated: the colour of the fins and tail are black: at the bottom of the pectoral fins is a black spot. The lateral line is white, broad, and crooked. The tail is even at the end, and of a dusky colour. The colour of the body is white, but more obscure on the back than the belly, and tinged with yellow.—It is called at Scarborough a kleg, and is a very delicate fish.
The Poor-fish. 4. The Minutus, or POOR, is the only species of cod-fish with three dorsal fins that we (at this time) are assured is found in the Mediterranean sea. It is taken near Marcellies, and sometimes in such quantities as to become a nuisance; for no other kinds of fish are taken during their season. It is esteemed good, but incapable of being salted or dried: Belon says, that when it is dried in the sun, it grows as hard as horn. It is the smallest species yet discovered, being little more than six inches long. On the chin is a small beard: the eyes are covered with a loose membrane: on the gill-covers and the jaws, there are, on each side, nine punctures. The colour on the back is a light brown; on the belly a dirty white.—We owe the discovery of this kind in our seas to the Reverend Mr Jago.
The Coal-fish. 5. The Carbonarius, or COAL-FISH, takes its name from the black colour that it sometimes assumes. Belon calls it the colfish, imagining that it was so named by the English, from its producing the Ichthyocola; but Gesner gives the true etymology. These fish are common on most of our rocky and deep coasts, but particularly those of the north of Great Britain. They swarm about the Orkneys, where the fry are the great support of the poor. The young begin to appear on the Yorkshire coast the beginning of July in vast shoals, and are at that time about an inch and an half long. In August they are from three to five inches in length, and are taken in great numbers with the angling rod: they are then esteemed a very delicate fish; but grow so coarse when they are a year old, that few people will eat them. Fish of that age are from eight to fifteen inches long, and begin to have a little blackness near the gills and on the back, and the blackness increases as they grow older.
The fry is known by different names in different places: they are called at Scarborough parrs, and when a year old, billets. About nine or ten years ago such a glut of parrs visited that part, that for several weeks it was impossible to dip a pail into the sea without taking some.
Though this fish is so little esteemed when fresh, yet it is salted and dried for sale. It is of a more elegant form than the cod-fish: they generally grow to the length of two feet and an half, and weigh about 28 or 30 pounds at most. The head is small; the under-jaw a little longer than the upper: the tail is broad and forked. They vary in colour: some have their back, nose, dorsal fins, and tail, of a deep black: the gill-covers, silver and black; the ventral and anal fins, white; the belly of the same colour. Others are dusky, others brown; but, in all, the lateral line is straight and white, and the lower part of the ventral and anal fins white.
6. The Pollachius, or POLLACK, is common on many of our rocky coasts: during summer they are seen in great shoals frolicking on the surface of the water, and
flinging themselves into a thousand forms. They are at that time so wanton as to bite at any thing that appears on the top of the waves, and are often taken with a goose-feather fixed to the hook. They are very strong, being observed to keep their station at the feet of the rocks in the most turbulent and rapid sea. They are a good eating fish. They do not grow to a very large size; at least the biggest seldom exceed six or seven pounds: but some have been taken in the sea near Scarborough, which they frequent during winter, that weighed near 28 pounds. They are there called leets.
The under jaw is longer than the upper; the head and body rises pretty high, as far as the first dorsal fin. The side line is incurvated, rising towards the middle of the back, then sinking and running straight to the tail; it is broad, and of a brown colour. The colour of the back is dusky, sometimes inclining to green: the sides beneath the lateral line marked with lines of yellow; the belly white.
The Whiting. 7. The merlangus, or WHITING. These fish appear in vast shoals in our seas in the spring, keeping at the distance of about half a mile to that of three from the shore. They are caught in vast numbers by the line, and afford excellent diversion. They are the most delicate, as well as the most wholesome, of any of the genus: but they do not grow to a large size, the biggest not exceeding 20 inches; and even that is very uncommon, the usual length being 10 or 12; tho' it is said, that whittings, from four to eight pounds in weight, have been taken in the deep water at the edge of the Dogger-Bank.—It is a fish of an elegant make: the upper jaw is the longest; the eyes large, the nose sharp; the teeth of the upper jaw long, and appear above the lower when closed. The colour of the head and back is a pale brown; the lateral line white, and crooked; the belly and sides silvery, the last streaked lengthwise with yellow.
The Hake. 8. The merlucius, or HAKE, is found in vast abundance on many of our coasts, and of those of Ireland. There was formerly a vast stationary fishery of hake on the Nymph Bank off the coast of Waterford, immense quantities appearing there twice a-year; the first shoal coming in June, during the mackerel-season; the other in September, at the beginning of the herring-season, probably in pursuit of those fish: it was no unusual thing for six men with hooks and lines to take a thousand hake in one night, besides a considerable quantity of other fish. These were salted and sent to Spain, particularly to Bilbao. We are at this time uninformed of the state of this fishery; but find that Mr Smith, who wrote the history of the county of Waterford, complains even in his time (1746) of its decline. Many of the gregarious fish are subject to change their situations, and desert their haunts for numbers of years, and then return again. Mr Smith instances the loss of the haddock on the Waterford shores, where they used to swarm; and we can bring the capriciousness of the herrings, which so frequently quit their stations, as another example.—Sometimes the irregular migration of fish is owing to their being followed and harassed by an unusual number of fish of prey, such as the shark-kind; sometimes to deficiency of the smaller fish, which served them as food; and lastly, in many places to the custom of trawling, which not only demolishes a quantity of their
Gades. their spawn, which is deposited in the sand, but also destroys or drives into deeper waters numberless worms and insects, the repast of many fish.—The hake is in England esteemed a very coarse fish, and is seldom admitted to table either fresh or salted. When cured, it is known by the name of Poor John. These fish are from a foot and an half to near twice that length: they are of a slender make, of a pale ash-colour on their backs, and of a dirty white on their bellies.
The Ling. 10. The molva, or LING, takes its English name from its length, being corrupted from the word long. It abounds about the Scilly Isles, on the coasts of Scarborough, and those of Scotland and Ireland, and forms a considerable article of commerce. This branch of trade was considerable so long ago as the reign of Edward III. an act for regulating the price of lob, ling, and cod, being made in his 31st year.
In the Yorkshire seas they are in perfection from the beginning of February to the beginning of May, and some till the end of that month. In June they spawn, depositing their eggs in the soft ouzy ground of the mouth of the Tees: at that time the males separate from the females, and resort to some rocky ground near Flamborough-head, where the fishermen take great numbers without ever finding any of the female or roed fish among them.
While a ling is in season its liver is very white, and abounds with a fine-flavoured oil; but as soon as the fish goes out of season, the liver becomes red as that of a bullock, and affords no oil. The same happens to the cod and other fish in a certain degree, but not so remarkably as in the ling. When the fish is in perfection, a very large quantity of oil may be melted out of the liver by a slow fire; but if a violent sudden heat be used for that purpose, they yield very little. The oil, which nature hoards up in the cellular membranes of the fishes, returns into their blood, and supports them in the engendering season, when they pursue the business of generation with so much eagerness as to neglect their food.
Vast quantities of ling are salted for exportation, as well as for home-consumption. When it is cut or split for curing, it must measure 26 inches or upwards from the shoulder to the tail: if less than that, it is not reckoned a sizeable fish, and consequently not entitled to the bounty on exportation; such are called drizzles, and are in season all summer.
The usual size of a ling is from three to four feet; but they have been heard of seven feet long. The body is very slender; the head flat; the upper jaw the longest; the teeth in that jaw small and very numerous; in the lower, few, slender, and sharp: on the chin is a small beard. They vary in colour, some being of an olive hue on the sides and back, others cinnearious; the belly white. The ventral fins white: the dorsal and anal edged with white. The tail marked near the end with a transverse black bar, and tipped with white.
The Barbot. 11. The Iota, or ВУКАТО, is found in the Trent; but in greater plenty in the river Witham, and in the great east fen in Lincolnshire. It is a very delicate fish for the table, though of a disgusting appearance when alive. It is very voracious, and preys on the fry and lesser fish. It does not often take a bait, but is generally caught in weels. It abounds in the lake of Ge-
neva, where it is called Iota; and it is also met with in the Lago Maggiore, and Lugano. The largest taken in our waters weigh between two and three pounds, but abroad they are sometimes found of double that weight. Their body has some resemblance to that of an eel, only shorter and thicker; and its motions also resemble those of that fish: they are besides very smooth, slippery, and slimy. The head is very ugly, being flat, and shaped like that of a toad: the teeth are very small, but numerous. On the end of the nose are two small beards; on the chin another. The colour varies: some are dusky, others are of a dirty green, spotted with black, and oftentimes with yellow; and the belly in some is white; but the real colours are frequently concealed by the slime.
12. The mustela, or FIVE-BEARED COD, very much resembles the former.
The beards on the upper jaw are four, viz. two at the very end of the noses and two a little above them: on the end of the lower jaw is a single one. The fish are of a deep olive brown, their belly whitish. They grow to the same size as the former.—The Cornish fishermen are said to whistle, and make use of the words bod, bod, vean, when they are desirous of taking this fish, as if by that they facilitated the capture. In the same manner the Sicilian fishermen repeat their massu di pajanu, &c. when they are in pursuit of the sword-fish.
13. The TORSK, or, as it is called in the Shetlands, The Tusk, tusk and brismak, is a northern fish; and as yet undiscovered lower than about the Orkneys, and even there it is rather scarce. In the seas about Shetland, it swarms, and forms (barrelled or dried) a considerable article of commerce. The length is about 20 inches, the greatest depth four and a half. The head is small; the upper jaw a little longer than the lower; both jaws furnished with multitudes of small teeth: on the chin is a small single beard: from the head to the dorsal fin is a deep furrow. The colour of the head is dusky: the back and sides yellow; belly white; edges of the dorsal, anal, and caudal fins, white; the other parts dusky; the pectoral-fins brown.