THE COD FISHERIES NEAR THE LOFFODEN ISLANDS. ' 577 



the absence of the gluey matter which iu nearly all other fish holds 

 the eggs together, partly by an unusually large quantity of fine oil con- 

 tained in the egg, which makes the specific weight of the roe a little less 

 than that of the water. Only when the foetus is dead, and the egg 

 sliriuks iu consequence, does the roe sink to the bottom ; unless this is 

 the case, it continues to float iu the water during the whole period of its 

 development; and even the young fish recently hatched floats about iu 

 a simiUir manner, with its heavy umbilical bag attached to it, which for 

 some time supplies it with food. 



This phenomenon is of great interest, from a scientific point of 

 view, and likewise deserves special attention from practical consider- 

 ations. Much which hitherto seemed entirely inexplicable in the habits 

 of the codfish when near the coast, the great irregularity with which iu 

 diflerent years it makes its appearance near the various fishiug-stations, 

 the long so-called "fishing-periods," when for many years it stays away 

 from certain fishing-stations and goes to others which in former years 

 were not considered good, the periodical increase and decrease in the 

 total mass of fish coming to the Loffoden, and possibly many other hith- 

 erto unexplained phenomena, must be ascribed to the peculiar conditions 

 under which the codfish spawn. It is well known that the salmon in- 

 variably seeks the river and even the exact spot where it has been 

 hatched ; and this peculiarity is not confined to the salmon, but to many 

 other fresh-water fish. 



The same instinct is undoubtedly possessed by salt-water fish also, 

 such as the codfish, and many important data all point in this direction. 

 One might thus expect that the codfish would, after a number of years 

 (so far it is not yet known how long it takes the codfish to reach maturity, 

 i. e., the capacity to spawn, but, to judge from other fish, it would scarcely 

 be more than four to five years), return to those places where they have 

 spawned in large numbers, and that good fishing might again be looked 

 for ; but experience shows that this is by no means the case, and the 

 cause will easily be found from what 1 said above. The eggs of other 

 fish, especially those which, like the eggs of the herring, are pasted to 

 objects on the bottom of the sea, must, during their whole development,^ 

 stay in the place where they were laid, while those of the codfish become 

 a prey to wind and weather, and are carried hither and thither by the 

 current. 



It thus happens not unfrequently, as was the case during the last 

 Loffoden fisheries, that the greater i^ortion of the roe is driven out into 

 the sea by the wind blowing from the land and by the current having 

 an outward direction, so that but little of it is seen near the fishing-sta- 

 tions, while at other times, when the wind blows toward the land, and 

 the current goes iu the same direction, it fills the water near the fishing- 

 stations, and, when there is a strong wind from the south, is thrown on 

 shore in such enormous masses as to form, so fishermen have assured 

 me, a layer several inches in thickness. A great many young fish are 



37 F 



