964 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



SO long as the geographical separation is maintained. 

 The three Herring varieties adopted by Heixcke (1. c.), 

 wliich he called A, B, and C, are also distinct expres- 

 sions of different ages. The development has started 

 from (,\ the characters of wliich, as Heincke saj's, are 

 a blending of those of ^4 and B; and the last-mentioned 

 variety represents that stage of de\elopment in ^\•hich 

 tlie dorsal and ventral fins have moved furthest for- 

 ward, again to recede, in accordance with the above- 

 mentioned rule for the development, to the position 

 which they occupy in Heincke's variety A. 



Such is the manner in which the distinctions ad- 

 duced between different kinds of Herring ma}" be ex- 

 plained away. Practically expressed, the result is that 

 no constant character has been discovered for the as- 

 sumed varieties or races. It must, therefore, be assumed 

 tiiat the geographical separation is not marked enough 

 to effect a complete severance of varietj- or race. The 

 Herring is a migratory fish, no more restricted to lixed 

 localities within its range than other such fishes. On 

 endeavouring to find a centre for that range in the 

 basin of the Atlantic, we arrive at a conclusion which 

 in a certain degree recalls Andebsson's antiquated 

 theory. A line including the White Sea, the extreme 

 north of Norway, Iceland, Southern Greenland, New- 

 foundland, the west coast of Canada and of the North- 

 ern States, and further south on the European side 

 meeting the Bay of Biscay, forms the approximate limit 

 of the Herring's extension in the Atlantic. That the 

 Herring besides is really an oceanic fisii, is clearly 

 shown by the fact that it attains its maximum size and 

 its highest development of form in the ocean. The 

 largest Herrings in the market come from Iceland, 

 Norwegian Nordland, and Norwegian Finmark. Their 

 average size (to the end of the caudal lobes) is 33 — 

 37 cm. Exceptionally lai'ge specimens are indeed known 

 from other localities. From England we are told of 

 Herrings 39 and 43 cm. long; but the most trustworthy 

 and the latest accounts in Day (1. c.) give 32 cm. 



as the maximum length. The Bohuslan Herring of the 

 present day is also in general of the same size, though 

 exceptions are not unknown. We have mentioned above 

 a Herring from HelsO (Northern Bohuslan) which, though 

 shrunk Ijy the s]>irit in ^\•llich it is preserved, measures 

 42 cm. to the end of the caudal lobes. It is not ab- 

 solutely impossible that such Herrings may be native 

 to our waters: but exce]ttions make no rule, and it 

 must be regarded as most prol)a1)le that the Herring 

 attains its highest development, and has the centre of 

 its range, in more northei'n regions, in the North At- 

 lantic between Iceland and Norway. It is, beyond 

 doultt, from this source that the Herring-fisheries of 

 the North Sea and Norway, as well as of Bohuslan, 

 derive their tluctuating supply". 



The experience of inanv vears teaches that the 

 Herring comes to Southern Norway from the north- 

 west. The Scotch Herring-fishery also begins yearly 

 off' the Shetland Islands and gradually extends further 

 and further south. The Herring thus makes fi"om the 

 north an annual ascent of the plateau, offering a depth 

 of at most 100 fathoms, on which Great Britain and 

 Ireland are situated. If this plateau (see the map) were 

 raised to the surface of the ocean, it would form an 

 unbroken stretch of dry land between the said islands 

 and tlie Continent from the Skaw south to about the 

 middle of the Bay of Biscay. The west coast of the 

 territory thus produced would coincide to the south 

 with the pi-esent limit of the Herring's range in this 

 part of the Atlantic. Between this plateau and Nor- 

 wa)', along the west coast of Southern Norway, runs 

 the deep, so-called Norwegian Channel into the Skager 

 Rack, its depth falling short of 200 fathoms from the 

 neighbourhood of Bergen south to Lindesniis, i. e. out- 

 side the region ^vhere the NorAvegian fishery for Spring 

 Herring is carried on. The channel is rather narrow 

 oft' Lindesnas, but widens and grows deeper in the 

 Skager Rack, so that between Arendal and the Skaw, 

 somewhat nearer to Norway than to Denmark, there 



" This opinioD I advanced in 1878. as an explanation of the revival that bad just begun in the Bohuslan Herring-fishery and of 

 the prospects for its continuance, of which the authorities were then very dubious. About 1870 the fishery for Spring Herrings on the 

 south coast of Norway had begun to decline. In 1872 the Royal Museum had obtained quite typical Spring Herrings from Stromstod. far- 

 ing the first years of the decade the Museum received from Bohuslan several pelagic species, Bonitos and other rovers of the open Atlantic, 

 notorious as pursuers of the Herring. In 1856' too .\. V. Malm had taken off Kalfsund Herring-fry 46 — 49 mm. long, wliich, as was then 

 assumed, could not possibly be the young of the Grass Herring (a suialk-r kind, spawning in spring) that is always to be found on the coast of 

 Bohuslan. It therefore seemed beyond dispute that the Great Herring had been present for several years in the North Cattegat and the Ska- 

 ger Rack, without being directly observed in those waters, until a part of the Herring army penetrated, after they had spawned, into the 

 island-belt. I found every reason to believe, as has since been confirmed, that a new so-colled Herring-period had set in on the coast of 

 Bohuslan, i. e. tliat the Herring liad made its way from the North Sea into the Skager Rack, deserting for this locality its spawning-places 

 off the south-west of Norway. 



