VKNDACK. 



897 



steiii. Wlieii Kimvek wrote his Daininnhs /■'/.s/v', lie 

 knew iiotliiii;;' nt' its i)reseiice in Pcmiiark. Imt in ISCiS 

 1k' i'frci\ 0(1 it ffiun Fcuissingo So near K'anilei's, and 

 ill the I'oljowiui;' \eai- F1';i)1)E1!SEN received it li'oin dul 

 S0, auotlief of the .liithuid iaises. At id)oiit the same 

 date it is said to lia\e Ijcen met willi in I'lsc So and 

 Sothofii]) So (Zealand). In Sontli (ierniany, l"i-aiice, 

 Bol^nuiii, and Holland it is nnknown. 



Till- \Ciidace is no time marine tisii, lint it occurs 

 in tairh' lii'eat niindiei- in the island-belts of the (iiilfs 

 of IJothnia and Finland, at least to the islands of So- 

 dermanland, where it cannot be reckoned, however, 

 accordiiii;- to Fkstkoji, amoiio' the common fishes. 



The \ eiiflace is thus found in ver\' different pla- 

 ces, both in brackish water and in fresh. It li\es in 

 lakes large and small, deep and comparatively shallow. 

 At certain times it repairs to ruiniing water. It is a 

 gregarious fish, and is consequently taken at times in 

 great i|uantities, while it also supplies food to several 

 large fishes-of-prev. Out of the water it is not tena- 

 cious of life, but. if treated -with care and furnished 

 with co(d water, it may be kept alive long enough in 

 ai|iiaria". To wind and weather it is very sensitive. 

 E.xcessive heat or cold drives it to deep water; and in 

 stormy weather it takes refuge under the lee of the 

 land. In spring it roves about in more scattei-ed com- 

 panies. In summer it shoals in the lakes during July 

 and August, making its way in large armies towards 

 the surface and into shallow water, to seek its food, 

 which consists ])rincipally of Entomostraca, insects, and 

 small niollusks. During autumn and still later in the 

 year it spawns, its active movements at the surface 

 rendering it easy of observation. In the Norrstrom at 

 Stockholm mimbers of small Vendace are taken in 

 spring with hdop-nets below the bridge of Xorrbro; but 

 in atitumii the larger Vendace are caught in traps just 

 above the bridge. The end of September and the be- 

 ginning of October is the best season for tin' last- 

 mentioned fishery. Two traps {ri/ssjor) have been 

 set, one in 2 feet of water, the other iit .">. with the 

 tail end fastened to a stake, so that the current keeps 

 the trap straight, witli the mouth down the stream. 

 The fisherman who has employed these traps for many 

 years declares tliat the \'endace always follow the same 

 course, going hardly a foot or tAvo to the right or left. 

 The Vendace s\vim up the stream only wdien the water 



runs from Lake Millar to the sea, especially when there 

 is rather a strong current; yet it sometimes happens, 

 though usnall\- oid\- one or two days a year, that a 

 single da\'s take in these trajis may amount to 190 

 kik). o( \Cndace, averaging about 5 or G to the kilo- 

 gramme, \vhich fetches at first hand .')0 — 70 ore' (6V1 — 

 9' /o d.). The N'endace are then on the way to their 

 s](awning-plac<'. "Tn the inner island-belt," writes SuN- 

 i>ic\'.\i,i., "(if! \'a\liiilm for example, the \'eiidace is 

 taken both in summer and autumn, but does not sec/m 

 to go far out. ( )n one occasion 90 /Ls^j^Mf/ (765 kilo.) 

 had been secured at a single haul of the seine off Fors- 

 vik (Ingaro) in the month of November; otherwise it is 

 onh" seldom that a few specimens are caught there." 

 From Sodei'iuanland Ekstkom states that, in the month 

 of December or about the time \vhen the lakes freeze, 

 the W'ndace resorts to shallower water, where it spaw^ns 

 on a stony or sandy bottom, tlie spawning seeming, 

 iiowever, to be of long duration, for \'endace not (juite 

 spent are caught with ice-seines in the middle of Ja- 

 nuar\'. In the Goxernment of Xorrbotten, according 

 to WiDEGHEN, the spawning-season of the Vendace be- 

 gins at the middle of October. "It then makes its way 

 tj — 12 miles uj) the mountain streams, and deposits its 

 roe on a stony or sandy bottom. Off the town of 

 Lulea the Vendace enters the bays and creeks at the 

 middle of (October, and spawns on a muddy bottom in 

 2 — (5 fathoms of water. Off .Muonioniska Village the 

 spawning takes place at the end of November." In 

 Lake Wener W'idegkex found that the Vendace spawns 

 from the end of (October in 10 fathoms of water, re- 

 sorting chiefly to the shallows among the islands round 

 Luro and Kallandso. In Lake Wetter, on the same 

 authority, it breeds about the 2 4th of October near the 

 bottom and at a de[)th of (iO fathoms. "The greatest 

 luimber s])awn," he says, "in deeji water along the east 

 coast from Greima to the island of Jungfru. The shoals 

 first met with at the spawning-places con.sist exclusively 

 of males. This would seem to be the case with tlie 

 true <;w^•niads as well, for those first taken are ahvays 

 males. After the spawning, which ends at the middle 

 of December, no more X'endace are taken in deep water, 

 though they probably yjass the whole winter in the 

 depths. Earh in sjiring they seem to have migrated 

 to the extreme south of the lake, and are never found 

 in very deep water, but remain throughout the sum- 



\Vc iKive kept large VeiMiiioe idivc for a forliiight in n glass jar tilled with the oniiiiary water su|iplie(l by the Stockholm Waterworks 



