FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



403 



appear at Woods Hole in spring (p. 405) . On the other hand few ripe fish are seen 

 along the coast of Maine, nor have we found pollock eggs anywhere north of the 

 Isles of Shoals in our autumn or winter towings, and as the Boothbay hatchery has 

 made diligent search east of Casco Bay, usually in vain, it is safe to say that no pro- 

 duction of any importance takes place between Cape Elizabeth and the Bay of 

 Fundy. Though small bodies of fish may perhaps spawn all along this belt during 

 some years, if not annually, it seems that none do so (or at any rate that no larva? 

 are hatched) on the New Brunswick side of the Bay of Fundy, for no pollock eggs, 

 larva?, or young fry have been found there although adults, half grown fish, and even 

 yearlings occur in great numbers. Whether pollock breed along the west coast of 

 Nova Scotia, and in what numbers, is still to be determined, though local fishermen 

 could no doubt answer the question. It is obvious that if no more pollock spawn in 

 the eastern part of the Gulf than present knowledge suggests, the adult fish so plen- 

 tiful there in summer and autumn must migrate to the southwestward for breeding, 

 but more definite information on this point is to be desired. 



The pollock is a late autumn and early winter spawner, with the 1st of Novem- 

 ber to the middle of January covering the period of most active production for the 

 Massachusetts Bay region, a fact established by many years' experience at the 

 Gloucester hatchery, where many millions of pollock eggs are hatched annually, 

 and illustrated in the following table supplied by C. G. Corliss: 



In 1912 the first ripe fish was caught about October 25, and it is unlikely that 

 pollock ever spawn before the middle of that month. Spawning is practically 

 completed by the middle of February, and the first week of March is the latest that 

 the gill-netters have reported spawning fish. With many species of fish odd indi- 

 viduals spawn out of season, but this seems never to happen with pollock, for 

 fishermen never report ripe ones, nor have we towed any pollock eggs, between 

 early March and the following October. The pollock spawns considerably earlier 

 in the Gulf of Maine than in north European waters, where breeding does not 

 begin until January, is at its height in March, and continues into April, the latter 

 month seeing the chief production of eggs about Iceland. 



The Gulf of Maine pollock, like the cod and haddock, spawn in comparatively 

 shoal water, the ripe fish that supply the Gloucester hatchery with eggs being 

 netted chiefly in depths of 25 to 50 fathoms, while on November 8, 1916, we towed 

 a considerable number of pollock eggs over Stellwagen Bank where the water 

 was only 16 fathoms deep. Probably few spawn deeper than 50 to 60 fathoms, 

 and there is no evidence at hand either in the form of egg records, captures of ripe 



