86 THE FISHERIES OF THE ADRIATIC, 



The Sardine fisheries hold the first rank amongst the sea-fisheries of the 

 Austrian-Hungarian coast. Their average annual value is computed at 

 .£40,000, and the value of the Anchovy fisheries at £4,000. The total 

 value of the produce of the Sardine and Anchovy fisheries in the Medi- 

 terranean does not probably exceed ,£400,000 ; this is trifling in com- 

 parison to the Herring fisheries in the north, whose value is estimated at 

 at least £3,000,000. In the south, the Sardine is fished sometimes in con- 

 siderable quantities, even in the winter, and Professor Kolombatovic mentions 

 that in the winter of 1880 eighty barrels were cured at Spalato, besides those 

 consumed fresh. This may also be said of the Papalina, which, however, 

 appears by no means to be so common in the south. 



The Allice-Shad (C. alosd) is said to ascend the rivers of northern Italy 

 and to enter the lakes of Garda and Como for spawning. It appears doubt- 

 ful whether this species occurs on the eastern coast, and whether it is not the 

 inferior Twaite-Shad {C. fait a), which is common there, and with which the 

 former has been confused. The specimens in the Trieste Museum are all 

 C. fait a, and the resemblance of the two species accounts for the uncertainty 

 on the point ; in fact, many authors, amongst whom Canestrini, Valencienne, 

 Heckel, and Kner, consider them identical. 



The common Eel is of prime importance in the fisheries of the lagoons 

 on the Venetian coast and near Grado, 1 and it is pickled (inarinatd) and 

 preserved in oil to a large extent. 



Two kinds of Conger-eels are caught, the common species being much 

 esteemed as food ; they are also dried and smoked. Three species of 

 Ophichthys and two species of Murczna (the Murry) occur occasionally, but 

 they all have a southern extension, and seldom find their way very far north. 



Some of the Pipe-fishes are common in summer, but they have no value 



1 There are 173 vallt, or breeding-ponds, on the Venetian coast, of which 63 arc in the 

 lagoons of Venice alone; they employ upwards of 1,000 fishermen, and produce upwards of 

 2,600 tons offish a year; one alone — that of Comacchio — yields 1,200 tons of fish, Soo tons of 

 which are Eels. Such results would not be possible were it not for the quantities of atherines 

 and Crangon vulgaris, which serve as food for other fishes (see Nets, Vallt). 



