Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/264

250 and of good flavour, easily separated into flakes, wholesome, and easy of digestion. They inhabit for the most part the cold and temperate seas, a very few only being found in fresh waters. The northern Atlantic is the great home of the Family, few reaching to the tropical regions, and scarcely any wandering into the Pacific or Indian Oceans.

The Cods proper, (including the Haddock, but not the Whiting,) are distinguished by the following marks. The long dorsal is divided into three distinct portions, of which the first is triangular; the anal is divided into two; the ventrals are small, slender and pointed, placed beneath the pectorals; the caudal is straight-edged, or slightly hollowed. The chin is furnished with a small beard (cirrus) at the point. Five species of the genus as thus restricted are taken on our own shores, and none in greater plenty than the most valuable of them all, (perhaps of all fishes,) the Common Cod, (Gadus morrhua, .) It attains three or four feet in length, and a depth of eight or nine inches; Mr. Yarrell mentions one which weighed 60lbs.; and Pennant speaks of another, caught at Scarborough, of 78lbs. The colour of the upper parts is a dull olive-brown, obscurely marked with yellow, fading to pure white beneath; the lateral line is white. There are two very distinct varieties, one of which has a sharp taper muzzle, the other a thick, rounded one; the former is darker in hue, and affects the southern coast.