On the stock and 

 fishing of Atlantic -Scandinavian herring. 



Fecundity and reproductive capacity of sea herring. 



We may outline the following specific peculiarities of fecundity for all sea herring, the 

 Atlantic -Scandinavian herring race in particular. Individual fecundity of all sea herring is rather 

 low, considerably lower than that of many other fishes, and the eggs of herring do not mature in 

 batches. With the increase in size and weight of the fish, the fecundity of different herring races 

 increases markedly. All the herring are characterized by polycyclic spawning. 



Sea herring deposit their eggs in considerably smaller quantities than representatives of 

 the cod and flounder families, than the majority of carps, perches and herring from the Caspian 

 and Azov-Black Sea basins . For the majority of populations, the individual fecundity is estimated 

 in several tens of thousands of eggs; for some of them the fecundity does not exceed 3-5 thousand 

 (6). 



The investigations of V. M. Naumov (19) and I. G. Fridland (31), as well as the research 

 of other authors, convincingly demonstrated that the eggs do not mature in batches neither in the 

 case of Atlantic herring nor of herring from the Pacific Ocean. The assumption of P. A. Dryagin 

 (10) that the eggs of Pacific Ocean herring mature in batches must be considered erroneous. More- 

 over, we wish to point out that the simultaneous maturation of eggs in the herring with few verte- 

 brae, which originated in Northern seas, coincides well with the general scheme of the evolution 

 of sexual cycles, as suggested by P. A. Dryagin. 



The size of herring ova varies insignificantly in different races despite the considerable 

 differences in the length and wei^t of the fish themselves . Only the ova of summer -spawning 

 herring are considerably smaller than those of spring-spawning herring. Farran (41) proved this 

 fact for the herring from the Irish Sea, while K. A. Liamin, a member of the Polar Institute, 

 established this rule for the summer- spawning Icelandic herring. Thus, the diameter of ova of 

 spring herring from the Irish Sea flurtiiates between 1 and 1 . 3 mm . , those of the summer and 

 autumn herring - from 0.7 - 1.0 mm., and with spring herring from the Irish Sea, 25-26 cm. in 

 length, the number of ova fluctuates between 30 and 40 thousands, for summer and autumn herring 

 of Identical length the ova are, according to Farran, almost twice as abundant, i.e. 60 to 100 

 thousands . 



The fecundity of summer-spawning Icelandic herring is almost 21/2 times hi^er than that 

 of Atlantic-Scandinavian herring spawning in spring. 



The fecundity of all herring races increases greatly with age, increment in length, and 

 weight of the fish. Thus, according to A. I. Ambroz (4), the herring from the southern Marltimes 

 70-80 gm. in weight, have only 17 thousand ova; at a weight of 300-350 gm., their fecundity rises 

 to 70-80 thousand ova. The largest herring from Peter the Great Bay, weiring 500 gm. , have over 

 100 thousand ova . 



The fecundity of Atlantic -Scandinavian herring Increases considerably with increment in 

 length and weight. Thus, according to 1. G. Yudanov(34), first-time spawners 23-24 cm. in length 

 have only 15-18 thousand ova, whereas herring 30 cm. in length and about 300 gm. in weight have 

 60-70 thousand ova. The largest specimens of ocean herring 32-33 cm. in length have 90 to 100 

 thousand ova. The fecundity of small herring and sprat from the White Sea also rises considerably 

 with an increase in weight and length. According to Antipova (5), the fecundity of Onega herring is 

 characterized, depending upon the wel^t of the fish, by the following indices: 3 gm. - 5 thousand 



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