According to Figure 14, the small schools contain more individuals in stage VI-II than the 

 relatively larger schools. The herring evidently emigrate from the spawning places in small 

 schools, later uniting into larger ones. The number of fish in stages Vl-II is gradually decreasing. 



Figure 14. Ovary from a Murmansk herring taken June 29, 1947 near western Spitsbergen. 

 Length of fish 335 mm., weight 450 gm., age 10+. Filling of the stomach 1, - 

 fat 1 . Length of body cavity 170 mm. , of the ovaries 155 mm. (90% of the 

 cavity), weight of the gonads 34.5 gm., index of maturity 7.6. Stage IV. 2/3 

 natural size. 



For the period of investigations as a whole, 1.1% of the males and 8.8% of the females were 

 in stage VI-II. 



In the females the resorption of the empty follicles is more complicated than in the males. 

 Females in stage VI-II therefore maybe found in the same stage during a longer period than males. 



At the beginning of July, the bulk of the herring had completed the reorganization of the 

 gonads. Stage II was dominating (83.6% of the males, 71.6% of the females). A new cycle is be- 

 ginning in the ripening of the gonads, more rapidly in the males than in the females. 



Of the males, 14.3% were in stages III and IV, of the females only 9.9% were in the same 

 stages. 



From the series of variations it may be concluded that the stage of the gonads after the 

 spawning (stage VI-II) corresponds with a low condition coefficient (0.882) together with a complete 



J 



248 



