5 
no case have I found them to be the main portion of the diet. After the spawn 
has been deposited it appears to be a common thing for them to gorge themselves 
with it. On one occasion out of 94 herring examined 76 of them were so gorged. 
Later, when the eggs are hatched out, many of the young fry meet with the 
same fate. During all this time the large schools spend the greater portion of the 
time in shallow water, since the nature of the food at that time makes this a 
necessity. 
Since the spawning season has been mentioned some consideration of this 
season here may be in place. As far as the Nanaimo district is concerned there 
is nothing perplexing about the spawning season of the herring as there is in 
the case of the North Sea herring, since there is a single quite definite season, 
the last days of February, through March and early April. All the evidence, 
and it is quite conclusive, goes to show that no spawning takes place at other 
times. 
Herring are caught throughout the year. For some time after spawning the 
gonads are empty, very little evidence of renewal showing before the end of the 
third month. At the end of four months the eggs are still very small, each 
gonad weighing less than a gram. From that time on the growth is noticeable. 
Much variation in the size of the egg and the weight of the gonad is to be expected 
as the young fish spawning for the first time produces fewer and smaller eggs 
than older fish. At the end of six months the weight of the gonad varies from 
2 to 5 grams, and this difference becomes more marked as the spawning season 
approaches. Young herring may have mature gonads with each gonad weighing 
less than 5 grams, while for a female the greatest weight observed was 18.6 grams 
and for a male 28 grams. The increase in the size of the egg will give some idea 
_of the increase in the size of the gonad. On October 10 the average diameter 
was .7 mm.; on November 9, .85 to .9; on December 12, 1.0 to 1.05; on January 
28, 1.1 to. 1:2; on February 8, 1.25 to 1.30; on February 22, 1.35 to 1.40; 
and on February 28 (spawned), 1.4 to 1.6. 
For several days before the spawning begins the herring appear in the shallow 
water near shore, actively feeding on the barnacle larve as well as any copepods 
that may be obtained. The fishermen say they come in to look for suitable 
grounds for spawning, but why should they do so such a length of time ahead 
when they have been in and out of the shallow water several times in the pre- 
ceding months, and even when they are farthest from shore they could come in ina 
few hours at most? In any case spawning does take place in shallow water, so 
shallow at times that individuals perish by being left high and dry on account 
of a flip out of the water near shore. There must be a large supply of eel grass 
or seaweed of the pliable kind present, such stiff material as kelp being seldom 
made use of. Against the seaweed the female rubs as the spawn is liberated and, 
as the spawn is very adhesive, all of it remains attached. One fish may rub 
against many pieces of weed or grass before the spawn is all liberated, but as the 
fish are so close together and may spawn over the same area several days in 
succession, every particle of a weed may become coated several layers thick. 
Immediately after the female liberates the spawn the male follows, rubbing 
against the seaweed in the same way. The milt in mass adheres for a short time, 
107 
