CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. 



201 



THE SPAWNING OF THE GRUNION. 



In Fish Bulletin No. 3, relating to the 

 spawning of Lciircsthes tenuis, the 

 grunion, there is g'ven on page 14 a chart 

 showing the relat'on oP the tides to the 

 spawning times. As the paper was pub- 

 lished on July 15, before the spawning 

 season was over, no spawning periods 

 were shown in July and August. How- 

 ever, since then, runs were observed on 

 July 15, July 16 and August 14. 



The runs on July 15 and 16 were small, 

 but larger than that on August 14. The 

 full moon occurred July 13 and August 11 

 (Greenwich mean civil time). Mr. Henry 

 Shands, a field assistant for the labora- 

 tory, observed the run during July in the 

 absence of the writer, and states that it 

 was noticed by a considerable number of 

 people, who remained on the beach to 

 collect the fish. The run during August 

 was observed by the writer, but so few 

 fish were noticed that it seemed an acci- 

 dent to have taken them at all. Hence, 

 although the fish were obtained on but 

 one night, this fact does not mean that 

 grunion did not run the usual three 

 nights. No people were observed on the 

 beach capturing the fish, this fact cor- 

 roborating the observed small size of the 

 run. 



It will be noted, from the above- 

 menfoned chart, that August 14 was the 

 last date on which the grunion might be 

 expected to run during the year 1919. — 

 W. F. T. 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO CANADIAN 

 BIOLOGY. 



Among additions to the library is a 

 series of publications from the Canadian 

 Biological Stations,* being studies made 

 under the direction of the Biological 

 Board of Canada, Professor E. E. Prince, 

 Commissioner of Fisheries, Chairman. 

 Included with them is a volume devoted 

 to the Canadian Fisheries Expedition 

 (Department of the Naval Service 1919), 

 during which material was gathered for 

 studies of the Canadian herring, the eggs 

 and larvae of the eastern coast of Canada, 

 the hydrography of the region, etc., by 

 Di-. Johan Hjort, and various associates. 

 The publications are noteworthy, aside 



*Contributions to Canadian Biology, 

 Supplements to the Annual Reports of 

 the Department of Marine and Fisheries, 

 Fisheries Branch, Ottawa, Canada. 



from the undoubted merit of the con- 

 tributions, in that throughout many re- 

 cent numbers there is an attempt to apply 

 to American species the technique de- 

 veloped during the study of European 

 fisheries by the International Council for 

 the Study of the Sea. 



The volume published under the direc- 

 tion of Dr. Johan Hjort includes in its 

 covers two papers which are in good part 

 general in character, dealing with the 

 principles of the Norwegian work on the 

 life history of the herring and of hydro- 

 graphic work, the former by Einar Lea 

 and the latter by J. W. Sandstrom. 

 These papers will well repay the perusal 

 both of the beginner and of the investiga- 

 tor, especially in the absence of general 

 works dealing with the subjects. — 

 W. F. T. 



BLUE-FIN AND YELLOW-FIN TUNA. 



The catch of blue-fin tuna during 1919 

 was largely the work of purse seine boats, 

 operating during the last part of the 

 season in the northern waters around 

 Santa Cruz Island. However, during the 

 height of the run off Catalina Island, the 

 schools invaded the prohibited waters of 

 District 20. The statistics of the catch 

 obtained during the subsequent weeks do 

 not, therefore, give an accurate idea of 

 the ahiuidance of the fish because of the 

 attempts of the seiners to evade the law, 

 and the issuance of an injunction (August 

 13) against deputies seeking to enforce it. 

 They are accurate, of coui'se, in regard to 

 the quantity taken. 



A potential source of more serious 

 error in statistics arose during the last 

 part of August in the confusion by the 

 weighers of yellow-fin with blue-fin tuna. 

 The albacore boats began, about the 

 twenty-fifth of August, to bring in num- 

 bers of large yellow-fin tuna {Germo 

 macropterus), landing them at the can- 

 neries, in company with many smaller 

 tuna. A close examination of these fish 

 throughout the period of their run, which 

 was not over on September 2, proved 

 these fish to be usually of the one species, 

 the "yellow-fin" tuna. It will be, in fact, 

 a safe procedure to call nearly all tuna 

 caught by albacore boats (other than 

 combination net boats, which were not 

 operating) during this period this species, 

 in contradistinction to the blie-(in luiii 



