The Haddock (Morrhua æglefinus) is common in our markets; it is much smaller than the cod, but in other respects not unlike it. It frequents the same localities, and is caught with long lines baited usually with mussels; the old fish keep close in shore, and are only got with herring bait. In the village of Findhorn, Morayshire, large numbers of haddocks are dried and smoked with the fumes of hard wood and sawdust. Hence the term "Finnan haddies," an article in such request at a Scottish breakfast. The village of Findhorn affords a very small portion of the haddocks sold as such, but the true "Finnans" are supposed to have the finest flavour.
The Whiting, Merlangus vulgaris (Fig. 376), by some amateurs considered the most delicate of all the Gadidæ, is plentiful all round our coast. It spawns in March, and the eggs are quickly hatched. It prefers a sandy shore, and is usually found some miles from the coast. It is a small fish, rarely exceeding twelve inches long, and seldom reaching two pounds in weight. The whiting is long in the body, clothed with very small, thin, and round scales; its dorsal fins are, like the cod, three in number; it is without barbellary appendage; its upper jaw projects over the lower; it is of a silvery white, sometimes relieved by an olive tint, which is contrasted upon the back by the blackish tint which distinguishes the pectoral and caudal fins, and by a black spot which some individuals have at the junction of the pectorals with the body.
Fig. 376. The Whiting (Merlangus vulgaris).
The whiting inhabits the seas which wash the whole European coast, often approaching the shore in shoals, and are taken annually in great numbers.
3. ABDOMINALES.
The fishes belonging to this order have the ventral fins under the abdomen placed behind, and not attached to the bones of the shoulder. It is much the most numerous and important of the great division of the Malacopterygeans. It includes most of our fresh-water fishes, a great number of marine species, and many like the salmon, which betake themselves to the rivers in the spawning season to deposit their ova. We shall limit our remarks to the species which are essentially marine, such as the Salmonidæ, the Clupeadæ, and a few others.
SALMONIDÆ.
The fishes of this family are graceful in shape, and have the body clothed in scales; they have two dorsals, the first with soft rays, followed by a second, which is smaller, formed without rays, and adipose—that is, formed simply of a skin filled with fatty matter, unsupported by osseous rays. They inhabit the seas of temperate and northern regions; ascending the rivers at certain seasons, and, in some instances, living exclusively in the great rivers and watercourses. They are found even in the most elevated mountain brooks. The grayling or shad, guiniad, sprat, trout, and the salmon, the type of the family, belong to the group.
