214 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



at a considerable distance from the bottom, and, what is all the more 

 remarkable, that the spawn does not sink to the bottom, but goes through 

 all the stages of its development swimming free in the sea quite near the 

 surface. Nothing like this has hitherto been observed in fishes or any 

 other class of animals, and even the fishermen, who every day for years 

 have had occasion to observe this phenomenon, have a very incorrect 

 idea of the actual facts. They have all observed that at the time when 

 the codfish spawns the sea was thick and opaque, as if it were muddy, 

 and all agreed that this must be caused by the spawn of the fish. Some 

 more inquisitive fishermen even tried to examine the matter more closely 

 by taking some of this water home with them. They then saw that the 

 water was swarming with very small transparent bodies looking like 

 pearls, but none of them would admit that this was the spawn of the 

 cod-fish. They thought it might be the empty shell of the spawn which, 

 after the young had crept out, came up from the bottom and floated 

 about on the surface of the sea. The circumstances are so peculiar that I 

 myself, the first time I met these but slightly developed and sporadically 

 occurring little bodies, transparent as a drop of water, was doubtful as 

 to their real nature. By microscopic observation, however, I very soon 

 became convinced of the actual facts. Some time later, when the spawn- 

 ing was going on, I also found these small bodies in great numbers and 

 in every stage of development, even urj to the young fish, with all its 

 most important organs clearly developed, lying in the egg ready to slip 

 out. By a study of this egg, from its impregnation till the time when 

 the young fish emerges, I sufficiently convinced myself that this spawn 

 floating about in the sea belonged to the cod-fish and to no other. But 

 as it has thus been proved that the spawning proceeds just as well in 

 the open sea as near the coast, what must, then, be assigned as the cause 

 of the cod-fish's seeking the coast with such eagerness 1 ? Two reasons 

 may be assigned for this: the cod-fish does not originally seem to be a 

 gregarious fish, and while it lives in the open sea it, in all probability, is 

 found over a very large area. In order, now, that the spawn may come 

 into close contact — in other words, that the roe may become impreg- 

 nated — it is absolutely necessary for the cod-fish, which spawns free in 

 the sea, that the originally solitary living fishes should come together in 

 greater numbers, and this could scarcely be done unless they all moved 

 toward the same common rendezvous. Another reason may be the in- 

 stinctive care which they have for their tender offspring, as it is easier 

 to find food for it near the coast in this the first stage of its develop- 

 ment; for, at the same period, many smaller marine animals are just de- 

 veloping themselves. At this season, particularly, I have seen the sea 

 swarming with the small, peculiar-looking larvae of the balanus, which 

 might very well furnish a suitable food for the young cod-fish. 



The approach of the cod-fish takes place early in the season, often 

 long before New Year, and occurs in schools, in such a manner that the 

 schools, which in the beginning are only small, gradually grow larger, 



