542 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [18] 



form when measuring 40 millimeters, is 6 to 7 millimeters. The larvae 

 are transparent. The juvenile form has transparent scales glittering 

 like silver. 



2. The young form, measuring 40 to 120 millimeters in length. It ap- 

 pears in the Bay of Kiel in autumn and winter, whilst in the Schlei it is 

 found all the year round, but principally from July to January. 



3. The middle form, measuring 120 to 140 millimeters in length. At 

 this age the herrings are generally very fat. The sexual organs are as 

 yet undeveloped. Herrings of this shape and size are frequently caught 

 in the bays of Kiel and Eckernforde in March and April, and often in 

 February. They compose more than half the number of all the herrings 

 caught in these bays. 



4. The sexually mature form, measuring 210 to 290 millimeters in 

 length. Herrings of this shape and size are found all through the winter 

 in the bays of Kiel and Eckernforde. Towards the end of March they 

 disappear and go to the Schlei. 



In the Kattegat along the Swedish coast the smallest fully-matured 

 herring measure 200 to 210 millimeters in length. In the North Sea on 

 the coast of Scotland they measure 215, and on the west coast of Norway 

 225 millimeters. 



It is probable that the herring does not reach its full size till its fourth 

 year, but the observations made hitherto have not yet led to any abso- 

 lutely certain result. 



As soon as the herring has entered its juvenile age, the number of 

 rays in all its fins (excepting the anal fin) does not change any more. 

 At that period the pectoral fin has 17 rays, the ventral fin 9, and the 

 dorsal fin 19. After the juvenile age has been reached the positions of 

 the dorsal and anal fins and of the anus do not change any more, but re- 

 main henceforth at a comparatively uniform distance from the point of 

 the lower jaw. 



The length of the head, however, and the height and breadth of the 

 body do not hold a fixed relation to the length of the whole body, 

 but change with its size. Thus the length of the head increases with 

 comparative suddenness, when the herring leaving its larva period 

 enters the juvenile period. But the growth of the head in length re- 

 mains behind the growth of the body, after the body of the young her- 

 ring has exceeded a length of 70 millimeters. 



The large and fat yellowish herring, measuring 210 to 290 millimeters, 

 which in autumn are caught in drag-nets near Korsor (Denmark), belong 

 to the variety of sea-herrings. They spawn in autumn probably near the 

 coast of Langeland. 



The so-called "Bund-gam" or "Beusen" herring of Korsor, which 

 measure 150 to 200 millimeters, have in autumn but little developed 

 sexual organs and a blue color, and are more slender and thinner, and 

 do not possess the delicate flavor of the fat herrings caught in the same 

 waters. They belong to the coast herrings. 







