968 



SCANDINAVIAN FISHES. 



When it leaves the egg, the young Trout is thus 

 ;il)(iut twice as large as the J'oung Herring; but three 

 UKjiiths aft('r\var(l.« it lias l)een outstripped by the latter. 



The larvie of the Herring are distinguished bj' an 

 elongated (Eel-shaped), somewhat terete, and highly 

 transparent body, with the vent situated far back, espe- 

 cially during the earlier stages, with the dorsal fin be- 

 hind the middle of the body, l)ut with tiie ventral tins 

 set farther forward. Tiie paired fins ai'e lobate (witii 

 brachiate l)ase), the jiectorals ajjpearing before the ven- 

 trals. In the Spring Herring of the Baltic the scales 

 are developed at a length of only 41 mm. 



When two years old, tiie Baltic Herring is afiout 

 20 — 21 cm. long; when three years old, 22 — 23 cm.; 

 when four years old, 24 — 25 cm. In Norway the Spring 

 Herring, it is assumed, requires 7 or 8 years to reach 

 its full size. The males attain maturity at a length of 

 16 — 20 cm., the females at a length of about 21 cm. 



.\fter passing through the larval stage, the Herrings 

 gather in shoals and commence their rovings along the 

 coast, often ascending into a foot of water, and ]>ursued 

 by Garpike and other predatory fislies. On the shelv- 

 ing beach near Halmstad, though the Herring is else 

 a stranger to Lahohn Bay, the shoals of young Herrings 

 were so dense in my childhood that during summer we 

 boys used to catch nuniliers by wading out and netting 

 them in our handkerchiefs. In July, 1834, aliout five 

 miles west of the Skaw, within the innermost sand-bar, 

 Khover" observed a shoal of Herring-fry that were about 

 .") cm. long. The shoal extended for a distance of about 

 200 yards and \vas more than 20 yards liroad. It was 

 so dense that the water seemed quite black. Herring-fry 

 one year old are of rarer occurrence in the open sea'; 

 but on the r2tli and 13th of August, 1889, Heincke'' 

 found several specrimens 15 — 20 cm. long among larger 

 Herrings in the Skager Rack, on the seaward side of 

 the Jutland Bank, where the depth was about 100 ni. 

 The Herring can thus endure the hardships of a life 



in the troubled ocean, and accompany its elders on 

 their wanderings, at an early age. 



The Herrings seem to seek strength, or at least to 

 find a sense of security'', in tlie' close companionship of 

 numbers, however little this avails. Out at sea they 

 probably swim in more open order and mingle indis- 

 criminately. The drift-net fishermen of Northern Scot- 

 land, who sometimes sail 80 miles from land, take full 

 Herrings and shotten Herrings, ripe Herrings and maid- 

 en Herrings (ma.tjes), in the same haul. But the nearer 

 the Herring-shoal approaches to the shore, at different 

 seasons of the year, the denser and the more exclusive- 

 ly do the different sorts congregate, in summer tliose 

 which are most eager in the ])ursuit of food, in autumn 

 those with the ripest organs of reproduction. Large 

 shoals of maiden Herrings (fat Herrings) — witii a 

 thick coat of fat round the intestine, liut witii small, 

 filamentous or ribl)on-like organs of generation — re- 

 pair in summer to the ^vest coast of Norwaj' north of 

 Stavanger, and feast on their favourite food, the so- 

 called Adt. The spawning Herrings, on the other hand, 

 resort in still greater multitudes during autumn and 

 winter, alternately, as it appears, for a series of years 

 to the southern part of tlie west coast of Norway, and 

 for another, shorter period to tlie Skager Rack and the 

 Northern Cattegat as well as to the fjords of Norwegian 

 Nordland. In the last-mentioned region the Herring 

 sometimes advances within the island-belt before the 

 spawning, but goes out again to breed. To the south 

 of Norway and off the coast of Bohusliin the greater 

 part of the Herring-siioal spawns before its appearance 

 within the island-belt, at least in the beginning of the 

 said period. In the Baltic the Herring goes out to sea 

 after spawning; but on the ^vest coast of Scandinavia it 

 makes its way into tiie island-belt and the fjords, and 

 rests there for a while, before witiidrawing to the 0])en 

 sea. At these times it even enters fresh water. Mokeau 

 states that it ascends the moutii of the Seine up to 

 Quillebeuf''. After resting it again begins to feed, puts 

 on flesh, and becomes wiiat is known in Norway as 

 slosill (witii tiiread-like organs of generation). But the 

 Herrings of the shoal are not all in the same condition, 

 although most of thein are ready to spawn. The main 



" Damn. Fiske, vol. Ill, p. 159, note. 



* BOECK, 1. c, p. 18. 



<■ .Mith. Sect. Kust., Hochseef. (Ueutsch. Fisdi. Ver.) 1890, p. 17. 



'' Cf. the above-nientioijed observations of tlic TlirfC-spiucil Sticklfhack (p. t)57). 



' Cf. also Guv., Val., 1. c, p. 66. 



