FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



421 



results, as appears from the following table showing the growth of approximately 

 2,000,000 freshly hatched larvae placed in the pond on January 11. 



Date 



Extreme 

 length 



Average 

 length 



Date 



Extreme i Average 

 length length 



Apr. 8.. 

 Apr. 25. 

 May 13. 



mm. 

 29 to 38 



34 to 49 



35 to 51 



mm, 

 32.9 

 40 

 42.8 



May 25 

 June 6,- 

 June 20. 



mm. 

 28 to 68 

 71 to 76 

 73 to 77 



64 



75.5 



75 



Captures of young fry 1 3^ to 3 inches long in the neighborhood of Cape Ann 

 late in June (Earll, 1880) shows that cod hatched from January to March in the 

 GuK of Maine grow at about this same rate, but fish hatched in the rising temper- 

 atures of spring might be expected to grow faster during their first few months. 

 Dannevig,*' in fact, had young cod hatched on April 2G reach an average length of 

 8.5 cm. by mid September (5 months) and 11.5 cm. by mid October. In general, 

 European experience*' is to the effect that young cod are 4^ to 8 inches long by 

 the end of the first autumn, the earliest (winter) hatched being largest, the spring 

 hatched smallest, which probably applies equally to the Gulf of Maine. 



In later life cod grow at varying rates in different seas, and even fish caught in 

 the same haul may have grown at very different rates, as the structure of the scales 

 shows. Consequently the length of a fish older than a yearling is no criterion to 

 its age within two or three years. Wodehouse's (1916, p. 103) studies on cod 

 caught at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy suggest that they grow much more rapidly 

 in the Gulf of Maine than anywhere in European waters, as foUows : 



o Two fish only. 



" Canadian Fisheries Expedition, 1914-15 (1919), pp. 1-49. 



88 Dam as (Rapports et Procfis-Verbaux, Consfiil Permanent International pour TExploration de la Mer, Vol. X, No. 3, 

 1909) gives a full account of the European investigations on the life of the cod up to that date. 



