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.