Trouts are a very voracious fish, affording the angler great amusement. The under jaw of the Trout is subject to the same curvature as that of the Salmon. There is likewise a species of Trout, which migrates out of the sea into the river Esk in Cumberland, from July to September, and called, from its colour, the Whiting. Its taste is delicious. When they first make their appearance from the salt water, they have a Salmon Louse adhering to them. They have milt and spawn; but no fry has been yet observed. It goes under the appellation of Phinocs, among the Scotch. They are never more than a foot in length; the upper jaw is somewhat longer than the lower; the upper contains two rows of teeth, and the lower one: on the tongue there are six teeth. Its form is truly elegant; the colour dusky, mingled with silver. First dorsal fin spotted with black; the tail quite black, and forked; the first dorsal fin has eleven rays; the pectoral thirteen; the ventral nine; the anal nine.
Asellus. The Whiting. Fortin. Albin. delin. 1740
The WHITING
Is, in Icthyology, the English name of a common fish of the Asellus kind, called by some Asellus Mollis, and by others Asellus Albus, or Merlangus. It is certainly, according to the Artedian system, one of the Gadi; distinguished by that author by the name of Gadus with three fins on the back; without beards, with a white body; the upper jaw longer than the lower.
The Whiting, or Gadus Melangus of Linnæus, has a very elegant form: its eyes are large, its nose sharp; the teeth of the upper jaw are very long, and appear above the lower when closed. The first dorsal fin has fifteen rays, the second eighteen, and the last twenty. The head and back are of a pale brown colour; the lateral line white and crooked; the belly and sides silvery; the sides being marked lengthways with yellow.
They appear in the sea, by large shoals, in the spring, keeping at the distance of about half a mile to that of three miles from the shore. They are the most delicate and wholesome of any of the genus, and seldom grow to more than ten or twelve inches in length.
A
DISCOURSE
OF
FISH AND FISH-PONDS,
BY
The Hon. ROGER NORTH.