478 



SCANDIXAVIAX FISHES. 



oil the KJtli of May half tlio females caught hnd not 

 linislicrl spawning, and in .June, when the fish deserted 

 the eoast, a few females, though with ripe roe, had not 

 vet quite emptied their ovaries. The size as well as 

 the innnl)er of the eggs varies Avith the size of the fish. 

 In Cod 2*., — 3" 3 kgm. in weight Eahll found eggs 

 whieli after imjn-egnation were 2'8 nun. in diameter, 

 while in other females, 11' 3 kgm. in weight, the iin- 

 jiregnated ova measured 3'2 — o'6 mm. 



During tlie spawning season the females kee]) near 

 the bottom, the males ])rol)al)ly joining them there, 

 1)ut seeming generally to swim higher in the Avater. 

 The greatest number of breeding females, according to 

 Eai!ll, are caught on long-lines with the bait lying on 

 the ground, while the males ai-e taken at this season 

 on long-lines and hand-lines with the bait held free, 

 away from the bottom. The roe is also fertilized wliile 



floating in the water, and rises higher and higher to- 

 wards the surface, where tlie first stages of the develop- 

 ment are passed. Tliis discovery was made by Saks 

 in 1864, and has subse({uently given rise to manv other 

 similar observations. When the young fish leaves the 

 egg, it still retains tlie original (fcetal) curvature of 

 the body, says EaTiLL, liut it soon straightens out, and 

 is then about five-sixteenths of an inch in length, with 

 large, but liigiih' transparent j^olk-sac, which is ab- 

 sorbed in from 10 to 15 days. The fry now seek 

 shelter under Medusa' and other floating objects, witli 

 whieli it drifts about and approaches land. During 

 tlie course of the summer Cod-fry are found in shoals 

 at the surface of inlets and channels. The growth is 

 rapid, but as usual irregular, these shoals consisting of 

 young specimens of very different sizes. Eart.l esti- 

 mates the avera.ofe ";roAvth as follows: 



Cod fry 2' n — 3 in. (38 — 7G mm.) in length arc '/., year old 



In autumn, according to Sai!S, when they have 

 attained a length of about 1 dm., the fry begin to 

 descend to the bottom in some fathoms of water, and 

 in November and December he found young specimens, 

 between 15^2 and 18',, cm. long, at a depth of 8 — 12 

 fathoms, generally on the edge of deep Avater. At mid- 

 summer he took Cod at a depth of 100 — 150 fathoms 

 between 20 and 30 Norwegian miles off shore. 



The smallest ripe male Eakll met with, weighed 

 3'/ 2 lbs. (about I'/j kgm.), and the smallest ripe female 

 5 lbs. (2' J kgm.) Hence he concludes that the males 

 are ripe in their third year, the females not until their 

 fourth. After this period they seem to spaivn regularly 

 everj' yeai', for at the beginning of the fishing-season 

 he did not nu^et with a single adult Cod whose sexual 

 organs showed any sign of .sterility. 



The Cod is one of the most voracious fishes. Its 

 food is probably composed strictly of small fishes, crusta- 

 ceans, and worms, but in its fierce hunger, especially 

 after the spawning-season, it swallows everything that 

 attracts its attention in the least. Even stones are some- 

 times found in its stomach, and the fishermen then say 

 that the Cod has taken in ballast to sink into deep 

 water. The probal)le ex])lanation of this, however, as 

 Kroveh has already suggested, is that the stones have 

 been swallowed, not for their own sake, but for that 



of the small marine animals with which they have been 

 covered. In temperament the Cod seems to be very 

 sluggish, and its movements in the water are anything 

 but active. Most methods of catching it are, therefore, 

 based on its voracity. In deep water it is generally 

 taken on hand-lines (handsnore or sforsiu'ire) or long- 

 lines {liiior or hackor). The hand-Jiiie is a strong, 

 three-.stranded cord, about 170 or 180 m. long, with 

 a somewhat finer snood, 1 metre long, to which are 

 attached the hook and a heavy plummet of lead. The 

 long-line is a three-stranded, tarred line, about 5 cm. 

 in circumference and about 225 m. in length. To a 

 line of this size 50 hooks are attached, each with a 

 snood a metre and a half long, and all the snoods, with 

 the exception of every fifth one, are furnished w\i\\ a. 

 float to keep the hook and bait from the bottom. C)n 

 the snoods that have no float. Skate are taken. Each 

 fishing-boat that sails from Bohusliin in spring, takes 

 with it 30 or 40 of these long-lines to the fishing-banks 

 west of Jutland and Norway. Within the island-belt 

 of Bohuslan the Cod is taken with the shulorj, a finer 

 hand-line, generally made of horsehair and with two 

 hooks. A bait of mussels, or, still better, of pieces of 

 fish, especially fresh Herring and Mackerel, is used. 

 Another method of taking Cod, less common in Sweden, 

 l)ut more so in Norway", is Avith gill-nets, both at the 



" Cf. also Collins, Bnll. l". S. Fish. Commission 1881, p. 1. 



