Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 281 



their geographic range, from north to south. Around Newfoundland they spawn chiefly 

 within the bays. However, from the southern side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence south- 

 ward as far as southern Maine there is no considerable sector of the coast, except a 

 part of the Bay of Fundy (p. 290), that does not see a more or less plentiful spawning 

 run. Moore has spoken of the northern coastline of the Gulf of Maine as "a con- 

 tinuous spawning ground," succeeded by scattered grounds wherever the bottom is 

 suitable, extending as far southward as Block Island off the Rhode Island coast {q^: 408). 

 However, local spawning grounds may be abandoned for a term of years — a common 

 occurrence {g^: 430). 



In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada, they have been described as spawning in 

 water so shallow that the eggs are sometimes washed up on the beach by the waves 

 {()$: 411)' ^^ happens every year in northern European waters (75: 99). In general, 

 however, our Atlantic Herring spawn at depths of, say, 2—30 fms. Thus spawning takes 

 place both along shore and on the various ledges that lie between 5—25 miles off the 

 coast, where eggs are often found sticking to the anchor lines of fishing vessels. But the 

 nature of the bottom makes it improbable that any eggs are laid at a depth greater 

 than 75 fms. on the American side, though spawning at a depth of 100 fms. has been 

 reported for Scandinavian waters {g^: 41 1). Whether, or how regularly, the fish may 

 spawn on the shallower parts of the offshore fishing areas, from Georges to Grand 

 banks, remains to be learned. 



Habits}"' Herring are primarily wanderers of the open sea. While they also enter 

 bays and estauaries freely, they seem never to have been reported reliably from water 

 that is more than slightly brackish; along the American coast a salinity of perhaps 

 2.8 "/oo is about the lower limit of tolerance. 



As a rule, all sizes of Atlantic Herring congregate in schools of hundreds or 

 thousands of individuals, with a given school usually consisting of individuals of about 

 the same age and size. How long a school may preserve its identity as such is not 

 known, for while Fridriksson and Aasen have found that specimens tagged and released 

 together may be recaptured at widely separated localities (^o: 22), this may not apply 

 to schools that have assembled under natural conditions. 



When a school is at the surface in the daytime, as often happens in calm 

 weather, it is betrayed by a fine rippling of the water; but the fish do not ordinarily 

 "fin" or lift their noses above the water, as is characteristic among menhaden 

 (p. 354). At night they are betrayed at the surface by their luminous trails if the 

 water is "firing." 



A school of Atlantic Herring is not as easily frightened as a school of mackerel 

 by an approaching boat. Neither is it usual for them to leap clear of the water, except 

 when young fry are pursued from below by larger pelagic fish. 



A school that is actively feeding is likely to be more or less stationary, drifting as 

 a whole with the current. At other times schools are seen traveling as if with purpose- 

 ful intent, all of the members swimming side by side in the same direction. Schools 



12. Condensed from Bigelow and Schroeder (75: 89). 



