582 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



Age at Spawning. Sleggs {lOO: 21—30) and Templeman {llO\ 87—106) have 

 shown from length-frequencies, scales, and otoliths that a great majority of the New- 

 foundland Capelin spawn when they are three years old, and this is also believed to 

 be the case around Iceland as well as off northern Norway. But a few Newfoundland 

 females do not spawn until they are four or even five years old, and Hansen has recently 

 reported, from a study of otoliths combined with length-frequencies, that in western 

 Greenland waters 48—69 "/o (according to locality) do not spawn until the fourth or 

 fifth year (57: 121 — 124). On the other hand, Rachmanowa (5o: 120) concluded that 

 most of the spring-spawning fish on the Murman coast are only two years old (zwel- 

 jahrigen), and most of the summer spawners only one year old (einjahrigen). But we 

 are not in a position to judge the validity of these results, for no illustrations of the scales 

 on which the observations were based are included in the account. 



In either case, most of them die shortly after they have spawned once, though 

 some females may spawn twice or even three times during their life.^^ 



Spawning Season. In the western Atlantic the Capelin are spring-summer spawners, 

 with the season opening some weeks later in the northern part of the breeding range 

 than in the southern part. In Hudson Bay they have been reported as spawning from 

 late July into early August {112: 21). For the years 1941 and 1942, when detailed 

 information was obtained for many localities in Canada {lio: 56, 57, figs. 14, 15), 

 they were spawning from July 25 to August 20 along Labrador north of Hamilton 

 Inlet, from June 18 to August 25 on the outer Labrador coast south of that point, 

 from June i to August 25 along the coast of eastern Newfoundland, from June i to 

 August 4 along the western part of the coast of southern Newfoundland, from June 6 

 to July 2 along the northern part of the coast of western Newfoundland, and from 

 June I to August 1 2 in the Strait of Belle Isle. The chief production took place during 

 the last three weeks of June and first three weeks of July in eastern and southeastern 

 Newfoundland, and some weeks later in outer Labrador. In 1931 and 1932 the season 

 seems to have been earlier, at least in Newfoundland waters, for the latest dates re- 

 ported by Sleggs were June 28 to July 3. But year-to-year variations of this sort 

 seemingly are not wide, for Anspach, writing in i 8 1 9, described the Capelin as coming 

 into Conception Bay about the 20th of June, to continue "on this coast for about six 

 weeks" (2: 400, 401). Templeman has also reported that on rare occasions Capelin 

 "may return again to the beaches to spawn" some weeks after the main spawning 

 period has ended. And it seems that Capelin larvae taken around Newfoundland in 

 April and May are more likely to be the product of late spawning inshore than of 

 spawning that may commence as early as February offshore, as has been suggested 

 (joj: 35). 



Along the coast of western Greenland the Capelin spawn from May through June 

 and less commonly into July {2J : 177, 178; 90: 135), from early March into June 

 around southwestern and southern Iceland, and until August around the northwestern, 

 northern, and eastern coasts (92: 413). The spawning season lasts from late April or 



31. See Templeman (iio: 62-64) fo'' 'he evidence upon which this statement rests. 



