588 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



In the following I shall endeavor to give a brief review of »iill the 

 information I gained in these two years regarding the fate of the young- 

 codfish after it has left its embryonic state and entered upon a more 

 independent kind of life. I shall dwell as little as possible on the purely 

 scientific aspect of the question, as I perhaps shall have another occa- 

 sion to enter upon it more fully. I shall, therefore, only mention what 1 

 consider of general interest. 



In order to connect my observations direct with those made last year, 

 I left Christiania on the 25th April, and could already on Monday, 

 the 7th May, begin my work at Skraaven. I had chosen this place 

 as the one most convenient for my observations, as I was still under the 

 impression that the young codfish staid but a very short time near the 

 coast and gradually went out into the deep. Skraaven is one of those 

 places where the great deep of the west fiord approaches nearest to the 

 coast, as toward the south and the east the distance to the ridge is only 

 one-half (]!^orwegiau) mile. 



The first days after my arrival I took with my fine net a considerable 

 quantity of floating codfish-roe from the surface of the water, all in the very 

 last stages of development, showing that the spawning, although it had 

 lasted till the time of my arrival, was now completely finished. Where- 

 ever I cast out my net I also caught a number of codfish fry, both such 

 as had recently left the eggs and were still provided with the large shape- 

 less umbilical bag, and some whose bag had been completely absorbed, 

 and which, therefore, had already commenced to lead an independent 

 life. It was an unfortunate circumstance that, even when I tried to iso- 

 late them very carefully, I found them dead after a short absence from 

 home, often in such a state of decomposition as to make any examination 

 impossible. 



During this stage of their development these little fish are so tender 

 that they cannot exist out of the water, and that e%^en the least touch 

 affects them so much that they die in a very short time. This is cer- 

 tainly the most dangerous period in the life of the young codfish. Mill- 

 ions of them are undoubtedly destroyed by unfavorable circumstances, 

 e.g., storms and high waves, by getting into the breakers or being in 

 other ways exposed to hurtful influences. It seems, however, that even 

 at this early period they instinctively seek sheltered places. I observed 

 on a calm, pleasant day, somewhat later in the season (the 20th May), 

 large numbers of them near the surface of the water in the shallow sound 

 and inlets on the east side of Skraaven, where there is a light sandy bot- 

 tom. This was the first time I observed them while at liberty, for hither- 

 to I had only been able to observe them in my glass vessels. They gen- 

 erally measured only 7-8 millimeters in length, and they were so trans- 

 parent that I could easily distinguish them against the sandy bottom. 

 All that could be seen distinctly with the naked eye was the dispropor- 

 tionately large and broad head, the eyes protruding on each side, while 

 the rest of the body only appeared like a small fine thread vibrating con- 

 tinually. 



