(b) Skipjack catch 



The Ifiiidlngs for th*3 m-.ln parts of Irlyascki and Kugoshlma prefecturee for 

 194.7 are oho«n ic. Tables 2 ana 3. The figures on the Miyazakl PrefecturG landings 

 aro thou,'»ht to be fairly compls'-iG, but In tha case of Kagoahlma Prefecture the 

 landings for KogoshlTiia City, which ie tha siiln port for landing skipjack in the 

 profectare, were not obtals^ed -ad ctha? Tendings not included in the statistics 

 are thought to hB,ve reached a co.is Id arable amo'^t. Therefore it Is thought that 

 the actual landings for that prefectur? wore oT'^r three tines the figure given 

 in this report, 



(c) Fish catch statistics 



Tfebles /; and 5 show past ship jack catchos and the monthly catches for 1947 

 froB figures supplied by the statl^stlcal dopartraonts of the prefectural 

 governments of Miyazakl and Kagoshlaa. 



(d) Ueasureinents of skipjack 



i, Slae compositlcn. The bIzo composition of the sample of 317 fish 



measured during this year is shorm in Table 6. By comparison with the 

 catches mad® in areas other than the Satsunan Area, the proportion of 

 larg»-sl»ed fish is very great, Tlie values also differ froo those 

 obtained in past inves titrations re reported by Kimura ^ '. It Is not 

 clear whether this is due to the email number of measux^menta which we 

 made or whether it reflects a phenomenon peculiar to this year. 



11. Table 7 shows the sex ratio and data on the length variation between 

 the sexes for the 317 specimens. 



ill. Goiad weights and egg counts are shown in Table S. Further work is be- 

 ing done at present on this aspect of the investigation. 



(e) Food habits study 



The small amount of data which we ccllected on the contents of the digestiro 

 tracts of skipjack is shown in Table 9. 



(f) The period at which juvenile fish appear and thoir ecology 



Observations of the fish landed at the Aburatsu fish market showed that the 

 catch from the waters adjacent to Takarajlma[29® 9' N, 129® 13' E J and 

 Gajashima [ 29<* 54' N, 129<* 33* Ej from early October to the middle of November 

 contains a good many individuals having a total length of 26 - 43 cm (weight 

 240 - 1,335 gr). labe had an opportunity to observe the ecology of small 

 skipjack from a fishing boat in the Tokara group and at Torishlma between 

 September 25 and October 4, and en this cruise about 300 small fish measuring 

 26-43 cm in total length were taken at several different fishing grounds in the 

 vicinity of Qajanishlsone and Takarajlma. (Table 10), When these small skip- 

 jack are cau^t no medium or large skipjack are taken along with them, the 



' Kimura, Klnosuke. Dissertations on the Situation in the Fisheries for 

 Inmortant Japanese Species C Nalchl Juyo Gyorul Gyokyg Ron J, First Edition, 

 1941 , p. 9. 



