142 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



"The capelin (Mallotus villosus)", ^v^ites Doctor Huntsman," "is endemic 

 around Newfoundland and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In the latter region, at 

 least, it occurs abundantly only in limited areas, which shift somewhat from year 

 to year. It occurs periodically in similar limited areas farther south. The 

 southeastern corner of Cape Breton is the center of such an area, where large 

 quantities were taken in 1917. Halifax is the center of another area, where, however, 

 it is more rare. In 1916 it was abundant at Sambro,*near Halifax. The next area 

 is in the Bay of Fundy, where they have, exceptionally, been taken in large quanti- 

 ties at long intervals." 



Apparently a period of this sort occurred about the middle of the past century, 

 for Perley, writing in 1852, reported it from a number of points in the neighborhood 

 of St. John, New Brunswick. It seems then to have disappeared and for many 

 years thereafter was unknown anywhere in the Gulf of Maine, but it reappeared in the 

 Bay of Fundy in May, 1903, when it was common, and a few were again taken off Pas- 

 samaquoddy Bay in that same month of 1915.^^ This was the prelude to a period 

 of local abundance, for capelin were noticed among the herring taken in the weirs 

 of the Passamaquoddy Bay region in October, 1916, becoming so plentiful by 

 the end of November that one catch of 3,000 pounds of fish consisted of 2,000 

 pounds of capelin and only 1,000 of herring. They were also reported at various 

 localities along the New Brunswick coast at that time. Probably they persisted 

 locally in the Bay of Fundy throughout the winter of 1916-17, for in the following 

 Ma}^ and June large numbers of capelin appeared in Minas Basin. We find no 

 record of capelin within the limits of the bay in 1918, but not only were they taken 

 again in 50 fathoms of water off Passamaquoddy Bay in January, February, and 

 March, 1919, but they appeared with smelts a month later as far west as the Pe- 

 nobscot River, penetrating far inland. Since then none have been seen in the Gulf 

 of Maine. 



In spite of the fact that the capelin no doubt invades the Gulf from the east, 

 it is unknown along the western shores of Nova Scotia between Cape Sable and 

 the mouth of the Bay of Fundy. Evidently it travels directly north until caught 

 up in the cul-de-sac of the bay on the rare occasions when it rounds the cape, which 

 is in line with other evidence to the effect that, once past Cape Sable, the general 

 entrant track of visitors from the north lies some distance off the Nova Scotian 

 coast. 



Habits. — Although the capelin is not regularly endemic as far south as the 

 Gulf of Maine it may breed locally in the Bay of Fundy on the rare occasions when 

 it persists there for more than one year. It spawns in salt water (unlike its close 

 relative the smelt, which is anadromous), depositing its eggs on sandy bottom 

 along shore from just below tide mark down to 35 or 40 fathoms, where they stick 

 together in clusters like herring eggs. Many accounts have appeared of the multi- 

 tudes of capelin that gather along northern coasts at this time. 



*" Quoted from a letter. g 



It Huntsman (1922a, p. 12) and Kendall (1917, pp. 2S-30, and 1919, pp. 70-71) give details. 



