These fish abound on the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, and great quantities are salted for home consumption and exportation. On the eastern coasts of England they are in their greatest perfection from the beginning of February to the end of May. They spawn in June: at this season, the males separate from the females, who deposit their eggs in the soft oozy ground at the mouth of large rivers.
In a commercial point of view, the Ling may be considered a very important fish. Nine hundred thousand pounds weight are annually exported from Norway. In England, these fish are caught and cured in somewhat the same manner as the cod. Those which are caught off the shores of America are by no means so much esteemed as those which frequent the coasts of Great Britain and Norway; and the Ling in the neighbourhood of Iceland are so bad, that the inhabitants are unable to find a sale for them in any country except their own. The roe and air-bladders, or sounds of the Ling, are pickled, and sold separately.
THE HAKE, (Gadus merluccius,)
Is a coarse fish, nearly allied to the Ling, and is caught in great abundance on the Devonshire and Cornwall coast. It is also found on the coasts of Ireland and Scotland, where it is called stock-fish, and is often confounded with cod.