A fish (Merlangus or Pollachius carbonarius, or Gadus virens), allied to the Cod, so called from the dusky pigment which tinges its skin, and soils the fingers like moist coal. Found in the Northern Seas, and caught for food. (It has many local names; in U.S. called pollock.)
1603. Breton, Packet Lett., Wks. (1879), 24 (D.). Cole-fish and poore-John I haue no need off.
1744. Preston, Zetland, in Phil. Trans., XLIII. 61. In the Sea they catch Cod,… Cole-fish, Flukes, Trouts, &c.
1835. Sir J. Ross, N.-W. Pass., xli. 547. Consisting chiefly of small cod and coalfish.
1887. West Shore, 431/2. The black cod, formerly called ‘coal-fish,’ abounds in the waters off Graham island.
