They are caught in great numbers in the Northern Ocean, and about the northern coasts of Great Britain and Ireland; and when full grown are three or four feet in length.
The importance of these fish in a commercial view, is very great. Their size, the numbers in which they are caught, the excellence of their flesh when salted, and the value of the oil that they yield, all contribute to render them an object of eager pursuit by fishermen in those countries on the coasts of which they are found. More than 900,000 pounds' weight of ling are annually exported from the coasts of Norway. In England they are fished for and cured in the same manner as cod ([205]): and it is said that they bear carriage to great distances much better than cod.
Ling are in season from February until about the end of May. Vast numbers of these fish are salted in the northern parts of England, for exportation as well as for home consumption. When they are in season the liver is white, and yields a great quantity of fine and well-flavoured oil. This is extracted by placing it over a slow fire; but if a sudden heat be applied, very little oil can be obtained. As soon as the fish are out of season the liver becomes red, and affords no oil. A kind of isinglass is made from the air-bladders. The tongues are eaten either fresh, dried, or salted.
214. The BURBOT (Gadus lota, Fig. 60) is a somewhat eel-shaped species of cod with two dorsal fins, a single fleshy beard on the under jaw, the jaws nearly equal in length, and the tail rounded.
This fish is found in some rivers of England, and in rivers and lakes of the Continent; and when full grown weighs two or three pounds.
Although the burbot is esteemed a very delicate fish for the table, it is so common in the Oder, and in some other rivers of Germany, that the fishermen, unable otherwise to dispose of all they catch, not unfrequently cut the fattest parts of the fish into slips, and, after drying them, burn them instead of candles. The livers are large and of peculiarly excellent flavour. It is related of a Countess de Beuchlingen, in Thuringia, that she was so partial to the livers of burbots as to expend a great portion of her income in the purchase of them. If suspended in a glass and placed near a hot stove, or in the heat of the sun, they yield an oil which was formerly in great repute as an external application for the removal of swellings. The air-bladders, which are so large as often to be nearly one-third of the whole length of the fish, are employed in some countries for making isinglass.
ORDER III.—THORACIC FISH.
215. The JOHN DOREE (Zeus faber, Fig. 65) is a fish very much compressed at the sides, with large head, wide mouth, long filaments to the rays of the first dorsal fin, the tail rounded, and a roundish black spot on each side of the body.
This fish is an inhabitant of most seas, and is usually about a foot and a half in length; but it is sometimes known to weigh so much as ten or twelve pounds.
It has only been within about the last half century that this delicious, though hideous-looking, fish, has had a place at our tables; and the first person who brought it into notice was the well-known actor and bon-vivant, the late Mr. Quin.