966 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



ming, which spawns outside the island-belt from the 

 middle of May to the end of June, and the Autumn 

 Stromminc/, which sp.-iwns within the island-belt at the 

 end of August and beginning of Septemljer". In the 

 island-belts of Stockholm and MOrkO' the true spring 

 spawning occurs at the end of May and beginning of 

 June, the autumn spawning at tiie end of August and 

 begitming of September. In the south-east of the Bal- 

 tic, near Dantzic and KOnigsberg each of the two 

 spawning-seasons (vai'ying from March — June and Au- 

 gust — September) is of about the same importance to the 

 fishery. Off Riigen and on the coast of Scania the 

 autumn spawning is the more important; in the extreme 

 >vest of the Baltic, oft' Trave and Schleswig, the spring 

 spawning takes the upper hand. "The further south 

 \\ c advance along the Sc'anian coast", writes Lundberg", 

 "the more seldom do we meet with spring-spawning 

 Herring. The fishermen state, one and all, that several 

 years maj' elapse without a single one being seen .... 

 The spring-spawning Herring of the Sound, considered 

 by G. WiNTHER to be a distinct race, peculiar to the 

 Sound, would also appear to consist of small specimens 

 of the common Herring. Our Swedish fishermen there 

 do not know of any spring-spawning Herring in the 

 Sound, nor is there any regular fishery for Spring 

 Herring on the S>\edish side. A little Herring is 

 indeed taken all the year round, mainly to serve 

 as bait. But the Herring-fishery proper of the Sound 

 and Cattegat does not commence until the middle or end 

 of August or the beginning of September, and lasts till 

 the middle or end of (October. Most of the Herrings 

 taken, however, are not in full lireeding condition, i. e. 

 though they are full of roe and milt, it is not quite ripe 

 or running. At Kullen I Avas assured that Herrings in 

 this last condition or spawning Herrings are ver}' seldom 

 caught during the true season for the Herring-fishery; 

 but that, after the Herring-fishery proper is over, later 

 in the autumn, at the beginning of November or end 

 of October, shoals of spawning Herrings seek shelter, 

 when the wind is in the north, under the lee of Kulla- 

 berg, and are then taken close in shore." In the Cat- 



tegat the true spawning-.season begins in the middle of 

 September. The Herrings taken in drift-nets oft" the 

 coast of Bohusliiu during the latter half of August, 1882, 

 were for the most part not vet in breeding condition; 

 but on tile '2<ot\\ of September I found spawning Herrings 

 among the takes made 3 — 5 miles oft' Marstrand. That 

 was the first time, during the present Bohusliln fishery 

 for (ireat Herring, when it was conclusively sliown that 

 the Herring spawns, at least towards the end of September, 

 off the said coast, and that a verj' profitable fishery with 

 drift-nets might be carried on for at least a month be- 

 fore. That, later in the j'ear, it continues its spawning 

 within the island-l)elt as well, was proved by Mr. C. A. 

 Hansson, who found Herring-roe ready for hatching in 

 Stromstad Fjord on the 5th of March, 1885. More re- 

 cently (in 18SS) Trvbd.^i observed the September spawn- 

 ing of the Herring in the North Cattegat off Fladen, 

 Groves-Flak, Lilla Middelgrund, and the shelving banks 

 north of Anholt, and outside the Cattegat at the edge of 

 the shallows west of the Skaw''. Farther out in the Skager 

 Rack, between Hanstholm (Jutland) and Christiansaiid 

 (Nor\vay), somewhat nearer to Denmark than to Norway, 

 Heincke met with "spawning Bohuslan Herring" in the 

 middle of September, 1889 ^ The younger Herring, 

 the Grass Herring of the Bohuslan island-belt, spawns 

 in spring, during March, Ajjril and May. 



The Herring, like most fishes, chooses its spawning- 

 places in water shallower than its ordinary home, and 

 during youth at least, it also seeks for this purpose 

 water of less salinitj''. The large Herring can spawn 

 in 60 — 100 fathoms of water'', though it usually comes 

 nearer to the coast; the smaller Herrings ascend into 

 ^vater sometimes no more than a fathom deep. In the 

 neighbourhood of Stockholm the spawning is performed, 

 according to Sundevall, outside the island-belt or in 

 the larger fjords, on rises of the bottom or reefs with 

 5 — 10 fathoms of water, close to land sometimes in 

 only o fathoms. In the Baltic fishery the rule applies, 

 that the males are the earlier, both in age and season, 

 to attain bi'eeding condition — during the spawning- 

 ftshery the males are usually taken first. But Boeck 



" He further adduces from these regions sill, large males, with soft and running milt at midsummer or earlier, Seine Stromming, 

 sliotten Spring Stromming which is resting during the earl}' summer and is then taken within the island-belt, and Red-bellied Str6mming, 

 .answering to the Fat Herring of tlie Atlantic, with sexual organs not yet tumid. 



' Cf. SuNDEVALL and Ekstrum. 



' Meddelanden rorande Sveriges Fiskerier, Haft. I, p. 40. 



'' Sdlundersbkningar vid Sveriges vesthust hasten 1S88, Kongl. Civildepartementet, III, y. 16. 



' Mitth. Sect. Kiisten-, Hochs. Fischerei, Deutsch. Fisch. Ver., Jan. — Fcbr. 1890. p. 23. 



•'' Meyer, Jahrber. Comm. Unters. Deutsch. M., Kiel, 1874 — 76, p. 232. 



" Boeck, Nord. Tidskr. Fiskeri, Kbhvn, Aarg. 2, 1875, p. 263. 



