626 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



else but tbe offspring of the winter-cod. The name " smaagjed'''' is only 

 applied to such cod wbicli have attained to such a size that they can be 

 caught with a line, which can scarcely be done belbre they are a year 

 old. Younger ^'smaa<jjed^' were, therefore, formerly not known here, as, 

 strange to say, the enormous number of fish in younger stages found 

 all along the coast had been entirely overlooked, and always mentioned 

 together with the young of the pollack, under the collective name of 

 ^hnort." Just as during the preceding year it has been the chief aim of 

 my observations to find the connecting link between these so-called 

 "ftwaflryed!" and the tender young ones of the winter-cod, I considei'ed it 

 my chief object to follow up this link by continued observations, and, if 

 possible, to ascertain the connection with its final development — the full- 

 grown winter-cod. Although the outlines of the circle representing the 

 life of the cod have by no means been as yet drawn equally clear at all 

 points, I believe, nevertheless, that so many and essential portions of it 

 are so distinct that the remaining portions can easily be supplied. The 

 connection of the so-called " smaagjed" with the larger " bottom-fish" or 

 ''algas-fish," as a younger representative of the same fish, is quite evi- 

 dent; and as the connecting link between the latter and the winter-fish 

 or skrei we have the so-called siil-torsk or sand-eel cod, which, in all 

 essentials, shows the most com[)lete agreement with the genuine winter- 

 cod, from which it is only distinguished by not having its generative 

 organs fully developed. 



As far as the so-called " smaagjed^^ or the 1-2 year-old offspring of the 

 winter-cod is concerned, it shows in its mode of life a series of phases 

 or periods which are mainly dependent on mere outward circumstances, 

 especially the different food which is thrown in its way ; but as the oc- 

 currence of this food is by no means accidental, but with very slight 

 variations of time and place is repeated in exactly the same manner 

 every year, these periods in the mode of life of the " smaagjed^^ must be 

 considered just as invariable as the former periods of the fish before it 

 has reached the age of one year. We find, on the whole, that the cod is 

 a very stationary fish, and that from the very beginning, when it appears 

 near the coast, measuring about a finger in length and called " skrei- 

 mort," it is constantly wandering fi^om shallow to deeper waters. If 

 other circumstances did not occur, this wandering would be continued 

 without interruption ; so that the cod, the older it got, would get farther 

 and farther out into the deep. With a large number* of the cod this 

 regular development goes on undisturbedly, so that already in the sec- 

 ond year a great many of the offspring of the winter-cod have reached 

 the deep, or rather the edge of the great ridge rising from the deep, 

 which they follow until they reach the ocean. Others of the offspring 

 of the winter-cod which, during their wanderings, have got to one of 

 the many algae-bottoms, take so much delight in the food they find here 

 that they stay on these bottoms for shorter or longer periods, and are 

 soon followed by some of the ^' smaagjed''' ou their gradual journey trom 



