Norwegian Sea, we find amidst the schools of older herring the 6- and 7-year-old fish, Avhose 

 length at the age of 5 years was 27 .5-28 . 3 cm . The number of herring having a hlgji rate of growth 

 is always lower among the older age groups than among young fish. 



The data on the growth rate of herring most closely approaching the correct indices may 

 be obtained by back calculation of such age groups of herring, among which the correlation between 

 the specimens having different growth rates approaches the natural correlation between these age 

 groups in a school. We arrived at the conclusion that the 9- to 12-year-old specimens are pre- 

 cisely such age groups . At that age, all the herring fall into the category of older age groups. 

 While taking into account the aforementioned considerations, the calculated growth rate of the 

 Atlantic-Scandinavian herring differs nonetheless insignificantly from one region to another. 



to II 12 13 lu IS 



Figure 10. Rate of growth of herring from the north-eastern Atlantic. 



In comparison with other herring races of the north-eastern Atlantic, the Atlantic-Scandina- 

 vian herring are characterized by a relatively low growth rate during the first two years of their 

 development (Table 7, Figure 10). Later on, at the age of 5 years, their length is greater than 

 that of bank herring from North Sea, Irish Sea or Baltic Sea basin. 



In distinction from the majority of herring races, the Atlantic-Scandinavian herring con- 



51 



