258 RATE OF GEOWTH OP SOME SEA FISHES. 



Ehrenbaum,* in a paper just published, has criticised Hoffmann^s 

 observations and conclusions, and shows that it is much more 

 probable that the young anchovies examined and measured by the 

 latter were in their second year. In this opinion I entirely agree 

 with Ehrenbaum. We know now, from the researches of Wencke- 

 bach and others, carried out subsequently to Hoffmann's, that the 

 anchovy spawns in the Zuyder Zee only in June and July, and we 

 know that the herring does not commence its metamorphosis until it 

 is two months old, when it is 3'4 to 3"6 cm, long. Without very clear 

 evidence to the contrary, which Hoffmann did not obtain, we must 

 suppose that the anchovy would commence its metamorphosis at the 

 same age and a much smaller size, seeing that the adult anchovy is 

 only about half the size of the herring. The anchovy larvse of the 

 year in the Zuyder Zee at the beginning of August would be only 

 two to eight weeks old, and therefore still in the larval state, with- 

 out scales, the oldest having a length of about 2'0 cm. Therefore, 

 even the smallest of the specimens recorded by Hoffmann must 

 have been a year old. According to Hoffmann^s view the anchovy 

 would reach in about four months the same length as the herring 

 takes ten mouths to attain to, although the herring is so much the 

 lai'ger fish. Hoffmann's observations prove in fact conclusively the 

 very opposite of the proposition he maintains, namely, that just 

 after the spawning time of the anchovy, year-old specimens are ob- 

 tained, which are incapable of reproduction, and even at the end of 

 the following October these anchovies are smaller than the smallest 

 mature individuals. Hence it is clear that the anchovy breeds for 

 the first time like the herring and sprat and the flat-fishes, when 

 it is two yeai's old. 



In 1890 a Report on the Zuyder Zee Fishery by Dr. P. P. C. Hoek 

 was published by the Dutch Gollegie voor de Zeevisscherijen, and 

 a chapter of this Report is devoted to the fishes of the Zuyder Zee. 

 This chapter, with slight modifications, was also published in English 

 in the Tijdschrift der Nederlandsche Dierkundige Vereeniging for 

 1890. Somewhat to my sui-prise I find that Dr. Hoek accepts Hoff- 

 mann's conclusions concerning the growth of the anchovy. Hoek's 

 observations were as follows : — On July 6th he took an anchovy 

 larva of about 1'5 cm. in length. He does not say how the larva 

 was identified, merely referring to its characteristic shape. The larva 

 is evidently still without scales, at the stage when the permanent 

 dorsal, caudal, and ventral (or anal) fins have recently been defined, 

 and the primordial fin-membraue has disappeared. It is difficult to 

 judge from the figure whether the permanent fin-rays have appeared, 



* Die Sardelle {Engraulis encrasicholus, It.), Mittheilungen der Sektion fiir Kiisteu und 

 Hochseefischerei der deutschen Fischeiei Vereins, Jahrgang 1892. 



