596 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



"was that I could ouly pursue these investigatious in very calm weather, 

 and the following days were unfortunately anything but calm, a strong- 

 east wind prevailing all the time. But sooner than I had expected under 

 the circumstances, another and more convenient opportunity presented 

 itself for continuing my observations under far more favorable condi- 

 tions. 



One day when my fishermen rowed me along the shore in the sheltered 

 inlets, where in lieu of something better I intended to observe the young 

 pollack of which there were a great number, I suddenly discovered close 

 to the bottom some young fish of about the same size, which, however, 

 by their brighter color and their peculiar marks differed from the pollack, 

 and in which, to my great jo3\ I soon recognized young codfish. I did 

 not succeed in catching any that day, but I had now found the lost 

 track and determined to follow it up. 



The first fine day (the 23d August) I went to the place where I had 

 seen the young codfish, of course well supplied with all the necessary 

 implements; and I had not to search long, for all along the shore they 

 were found in as large numbers as the young i)ollack. They were now so 

 large that I could catch them with bait ; aud I even succeeded in catch- 

 ing several with a fine hook. I caught quite a number that day, and 

 could now subject some of them to a thorough anatomical examination. 

 On examining their stomachs I found that small as they were they could 

 not deny the well known voracity of their species. The contents of the 

 stomach consisted of a great variety of marine animals. Some were 

 completely filled with young snails ; one had swallowed a full-grown 

 Gammarus locusta, which filled the stomach and was well preserved with 

 all its feet and claws ; another one had swallowed a tolerably large worm 

 (Annelide), oue-half of which had been completely digested, while the 

 other ha^lf had scarcely entered the stomach ; and it even happened 

 once that a large young codfish which I had placed with others in a 

 tub filled with sea-water, snapped after a smaller codfish evidently with 

 the intention of swallowing it, in which, however, it did nt)t succeed as 

 the fish was too large. 



The following days I visited various places in the neighborhood so as 

 to obtain a more correct knowledge regarding the number of young cod- 

 fish in these waters. In nearly all the bays and inlets which I visited 

 I found them in very large numbers together with young pollack. They 

 had doubtless come near the coast quite recently, for previously I had 

 not seen a single one. In a certain sense we may, therefore, count an 

 important period in the development of the young codfish from this 

 time ; for they have now changed their roaming sort of life to a more 

 stationary one, or, to speak scientifically, they have from pelagic become 

 littoral fish. 



As an intermediate stage between the pelagic and littoral periods, we 

 may consider the time when they seek the company of the medusre. 

 AS these by wind and current are driven on the shore in very large 



