Volume 37, Plate V / Ichthyology (Fish)

Armed Bullhead & Bergylt, or Norway Haddock

Aspidophorus Europæus & Sebastes Norvegicus

1. The Armed Bullhead. Easily known by the beard of numerous thread-like filaments on its chin, this fish seldom exceeds six inches and is light brown above with transverse dark bands and a white abdomen, spawning in May. Well known along the southern and eastern coasts of England, it is taken by shrimpers at the Thames mouth and oyster-dredgers at Newhaven, and its flesh is reckoned firm and good, though not eaten in France.
2. The Bergylt, or Norway Haddock. An inhabitant of northern seas familiar to Shetland fishermen and seen on Aberdeenshire and Berwick coasts, this fish is dark red above, lighter on the sides, passing to flesh-coloured silvery white beneath, with red fins, and grows almost a foot long. Esteemed for the table, its flesh is dry but agreeable eaten cooked or dried; in Greenland it haunts the deepest gulfs, feeds on smaller fishes, and readily takes a long-set hook.