A kongetorsk has been surrounded by much mystery and superstition since ancient times. Whoever caught this fish was guaranteed a big catch and great luck at sea.
A kongetorsk is a cod with a deformity on its head, which occurs rarely in natural environments. It was thought to be extra intelligent because of its high forehead. There is some uncertainty in where the name comes from. Some believe that the head has such a shape that it can carry a crown, while others believe that the deformity of the head itself looks like a crown. Fishermen believed that it was this fish that led the other fish to the spawning grounds.
They could use the kongetorsk to attract more fish and to predict the weather.
Before we could get the weather forecast delivered to our homes over the internet, television or radio, people used signs from nature to predict the weather. One could look at the behavior of birds and other animals, look at the clouds, or other methods such as the kongetorsk.
To preserve the fish, it had to be gutted and cleaned with the head on, before it was dried. Then it was to be hung from the ceiling by a thin thread that was attached to the front dorsal fin. It was important that a woolen thread was used to hang it up. If there was a low pressure on the way, the thread would absorb moisture, causing the thread and fish to turn. This often happened a day before the low pressure arrived, and then people had time to prepare for the possibility of storms.
You could also use the cod’s fortune telling bones to answer what the weather was like. The fortune telling bones were the otoliths, or ear stones in the cod. One side of the bone answered yes, and the other answered no. Thus, you could ask a question and throw the bone up in the air to get an answer.
It was especially in Lofoten that the kongetorsk had its reign. A kongetorsk used to hang from the ceiling of every fisherman’s hut in Lofoten.
This was, after all, where the world’s largest cod fishery took place.
