Alaska Codfish

Gadus macrocephalus Tilesius

Images coming soon.

This cod is very abundant in Bering Sea, on both shores, and ranges southward on our coast as far as Oregon on the offshore banks. It is usually found in 15 to 130 fathoms, and is an important food-fish, though not held in as high esteem as the common cod of the Atlantic. Externally, few if any important differences are observable between the two, but the air-bladder or "sound" of the Pacific species is markedly smaller.

Colour, brownish, lighter below; back and sides with numerous brownish spots; first anal and ventral fins dusky, other fins pale.

GENUS MELANOGRAMMUS GILL

The Haddocks

This genus is distinguished from the Gadus by its smaller mouth, the produced first dorsal fin, the black lateral line, and especially by the great enlargement of the hypocoracoid, which is dense and ivory-like. The lateral line is always black. The single species is the common haddock, M. aeglefinus, which is of more restricted distribution than the cod.

On our coast it probably does not occur north of the Strait of Belle Isle, and the southern limit of its range is off Cape Hatteras in deep water. It is found also from Iceland to France, and is particularly abundant on all the shores of Great Britain and the North Sea. They are abundant on the Massachusetts coast in summer, and it is then that the largest catches are made there as well as on the off-shore banks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. On our coast there has been great variation in the abundance of the haddock; during some years it abounds, while in others it is very rare, the cause of which is not understood. They are more gregarious than the cod, swimming together in large compact schools from place to place.

The food of the haddock consists largely of invertebrates, although it is really omnivorous, and Professor Verrill has said that a complete list of the animals eaten by the haddock would doubtless include all the species of mollusks belonging to the New England coast fauna. The haddock is rarely seen at the surface, but is a bottom feeder, particularly abundant over clam-banks, hence its German name Schellfisch. It will take the baited hook as it rests on the bottom, while a cod will not notice it until it is raised a little above the bottom. Salted menhaden and stale clams are favourite baits for haddock.

The spawning season on our coast is from April to June, the height being in May. The eggs float at the surface like those of the cod. The size is about 1/19 of an inch in diameter, and a 9 1/2 pound fish produced 1,839,581 eggs. The usual size of the haddock is about 3 or 4 pounds, and the maximum about 17 pounds.

As a food-fish the haddock has steadily grown in favour until it is now one of the most important. It is especially desirable for boiling or for making chowders. It is well suited for preservation in ice, and enormous quantities are shipped throughout the interior, along with the cod. It is also smoked, salted and dried in large numbers.

Colour, dark gray above, whitish below; lateral line black; a large dark blotch over the pectoral; dorsals and caudal dusky.

GENUS LOTA (CUVIER) OKEN

Body long and low, compressed behind; head small, depressed, rather broad; anterior nostrils each with a small barbel; chin with a long barbel; snout and lower parts of head naked; mouth moderate, the lower jaw included; each jaw with broad bands of equal, villiform teeth; vomer with a broad crescent-shaped band of similar teeth; no teeth on palatines; gill-openings wide, the membranes somewhat connected, free from the isthmus; scales very small, imbedded; vertical fins scaly; dorsal fins 2, the anterior short, the second long and similar to the anal; caudal rounded, its outer rays procurrent.

One of the 2 known species is found in our waters. This is the ling or lake lawyer, Lota maculosa. The ling is our only freshwater member of the codfish family. It is found pretty well distributed in the larger lakes of Canada and the northern United States from Maine and New Brunswick to the headwaters of the Missouri, and to Alaska. It is probably most abundant in the Great Lakes, and has been recorded from the Eagle and St. Francis Lakes, and Lake Temisconti. It has been obtained from various places in the headwaters of the Missouri and Columbia. We have seen specimens from Red Rock Lake in Montana, Lake Chelan in Washington, and from the Fraser and Columbia rivers. It reaches a length of 1 to 3 feet, and though not usually regarded as a food-fish, it is utilized in some places. Properly smoked or salted it is not inferior to other coarse species.