490 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



of Labrador, north to Sandwich Bay. 41 How far 

 south it may do so is not known. 



Sand eels were formerly thought to spawn on 

 sandy beaches above low-water mark while bur- 

 rowing in the sand, but their eggs have never been 

 found in such a situation, and Ehrenbaum proved, 

 by dredging them in large numbers, that those of 

 the European species (Ammodytes tobianus) are 

 actually deposited in depths of 10 fathoms or so, 

 on sandy bottom where they stick fast to the grains 

 of sand. His experience also suggests that they 

 resort to very definite grounds for spawning, all of 

 which probably applies as well to the American 

 form as it does to the European. 



The eggs of the American launce have not been 

 seen. Those of the European tobianus are oval, 

 0.72 to 0.97 mm. in greatest diameter, with a yel- 

 low oil globule of 0.25 to 0.31 mm., and they are 

 described as of an orange tint. The larvae are 

 very slender, and about 7 mm. long by the time 

 the yolk is absorbed. The dorsal and anal fin 

 rays are visible when the larva is about 18 mm. 

 long, but it is not until the little fish is upward of 

 25 mm. long that the tail begins to assume its 

 forked outline; this is a convenient field mark for 

 distinguishing between the launce and the herring, 

 in which the tail is deeply forked from a much 

 earlier stage. The early larval stages are easily 

 recognizable by their slender form combined with 

 the fact that the vent opens at one side, just as 

 among the cod tribe, not at the margin of the larval 

 fin fold, so that it apparently ends blind. 



Figure 255. — Larva of European A. tobianus 6.6 mm. 

 After Ehrenbaum and Strodtman. 



Figure 256. — Larva of European A. tobianus, 20.5 mm. 

 After Ehrenbaum and Strodtman. 



Sand Launce (Ammodytes). 



The older larvae resemble the corresponding 

 stages of the rock eel (p. 493) in their slim form, 

 and in the location of the vent slightly behind the 



« Dannevig, Canadian Fish. Exped. (1914-1915) 1919, p. 29; Frost, Res. 

 Bull. 4, Newfoundland Dept. Nat. Res., 1938, Chart 8. 



middle of the trunk (it is located farther back in 

 the similarly slender larvae of the herring tribe), 

 but may be recognized by the row of black pigment 

 cells along the dorsal side of the intestine instead 

 of along the ventral side, and by their pointed 

 noses. 



The rate of growth of our launce has not been 

 studied. But it is probable that the small ones 

 of 3 to 4 inches, which are plentiful from July until 

 September, are yearlings; those of 4 inches and 

 upward probably are 2 years old, or more. 



General range. — Atlantic coast of North America 

 from Cape Hatteras to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 northern Newfoundland and northern Labrador, 

 perhaps to Hudson Bay (p. 491). Its European 

 relative, A. tobianus, occurs from Greenland, Ice- 

 land, northern Scandinavia and the White Sea 

 south to Spain. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — The sand eel 

 is very plentiful along the coast from Cape Cod to 

 Cape Sable wherever there are sandy shores, 

 but it is seldom seen off the rocky parts of the 

 coast line. Thus it is rather scarce in the Bay of 

 Fundy except locally, but is common on the sandy 

 beaches that break the bold northern shores of the 

 Gulf here and there. They swarm on the strands 

 of Cape Cod Bay, a phase of their distribution 

 associated with their burrowing habit. Here one 

 may see schools of them throughout the summer 

 in shoal water close in to tide mark, swimming 

 with the curious undulating motion so character- 

 istic of them; and they continue plentiful there in 

 some years during the winter, when great numbers 

 are sometimes cast on the beach in stormy weather. 

 Sand eels are to be taken in shallow water on 

 sandy flats throughout the year about Woods Hole 

 also, but they are never so plentiful there in winter 

 as they are in fall and spring. And since a general 

 decrease in their numbers close inshore seems to 

 take place during the cold months in the more 

 northern part of their range as well, it is probable 

 that a considerable proportion of the local stock 

 moves out into deeper water for the winter, to 

 return in spring, as most of the launce do in north 

 European seas. 



In Scandinavian waters this vernal inshore 

 movement takes place in May as the coast waters 

 warm up, and it is probable that the seasonal 

 schedule is much the same in the Gulf of Maine, 

 judging from its temperature. The sand eels 

 may also be expected to leave some of the shallow- 



