586 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



70° 60° 



Figure 138. Distribution of the coldest water, irrespective of depth, from southern Newfoundland to the Gulf 

 of Maine, for May 191 5. After Bigelow, somewhat emended. 



tensive bays of Newfoundland and Labrador pass the winter there, near bottom; they 

 have been found repeatedly in the stomachs of winter-caught cod, and recently in the 

 stomachs of seals taken in winter from Lake Melville above the head of Hamilton Inlet, 

 Labrador (j: 295). 



Those that are produced along the outer coasts, and some of the Bay Capelin as 

 well, come under the influence of the general pattern of coastal circulation that is 

 characteristic ofi^ western Greenland and Newfoundland (including Labrador) during 

 the part of the year when Capelin are near the surface. On this basis the hosts of Cape- 

 lin on the southern part of the west coast of Greenland (with some recruits from the 

 southeast coast) may be expected to tend northward, perhaps as far as Disko. 



There is nothing in the published record to suggest that Capelin are ever carried 

 across the northern part of the Labrador Sea from Greenland to America, or that they 

 survive the journey if they are. But those hatched on the outer coast of Labrador may 

 be expected to come under the influence of the inner edge of the ice-laden Labrador 

 Current until the latter slackens, in autumn (Fig. 138). Also, "a smaller branch of the 

 Arctic current enters the Gulf of St. Lawrence (but not as a steady stream) through the 

 Strait of Belle Isle on its north side" (Huntsman, 45: 277, 278; Fig. 139); this 

 doubtless brings some Capelin with it besides the icebergs that it sometimes carries as 

 far as the Island of Anticosti. But there is no knowing how important a role this cur- 

 rent may play in maintaining the stock of Capelin in the inner part of the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence. 



