636 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



dark question of the nature and migrations of tbe herring. This I 

 promised to do, with the intention o.f communicating ail the results of 

 my observations of the herring to Mr. A. Boeck, whom tlie government 

 had specially commissioned to investigate the herring-fisheries. 



As soon as my official duties at the university tad come to an end, 

 and I had procured the necessary instruments and apparatus, I left 

 Christiania by steamer for Stavanger on the 27th June. Here I found 

 the coast-survey steamer Hansteeu, and the day after my arrival at 

 Stavanger I went on board. 



My functions were to be those of a zoologist, and a special place on 

 the ship had been arranged for me. But besides my zoological investi- 

 gations, I also intended to make practical observations on the fisheries, 

 especially with the view of ascertaining whether by means of the 

 soundings new and suitable fishing-banks might not be discovered. In 

 that i3ortion of the sea where soundings had to be made (the portion 

 near the coast had already been surveyed before I came) the bottom 

 proved but little suited for any kind of fisheries. At a depth of 140-150 

 fathoms it extends for miles without exhibiting any perceptible change. 

 Everywhere you find the same soft tough clay, and this kind of bottom 

 is the very worst for tbe fisheries. Only at a considerable distance from 

 the shore (about 20-30 Norwegian miles) the bottom rises somewhat 

 toward the so-called " reef," a continuation of the Jutland reef, and 

 gradually changes its character. Instead of the soft clay, void of animal 

 life, we find first clay mixed with sand ; then a fine yellow sand, which 

 near the reef is mixed with gravel and small stones. The water here is 

 only about forty fathoms deep, and keeps at that depth for a considerable 

 distance farther out. After I had with my bottom-scraper brought up a 

 portion of this bottom and found it to be suitable for fish, I one fine day 

 when the steamer was lying at anchor let down several lines, and al- 

 though the time of the day was not the one most favorable for fishing 

 (it was noon, and the sun was shining brightly), I soon hauled in some 

 very fine cod. I was much interested in examiniuglhis so-called " reef- 

 cod," which formerly was considered as a sei)arate species, said to live 

 near the reef all the year round. I found that it did not differ in any 

 respect from the winter-cod or skrei, with the only exception that the 

 generative organs (roe and milt), as might be expected about this season 

 of the year, were not yet fully developed. It is well known that occa- 

 sionally genuine winter-cod (skrei) are caught outside the Jader and on 

 the Stavanger coast, and this had been especially the case last winter. 

 A great number of these winter-cod certainly keep near the reef during 

 the summer, and are then called " reef-cod." If this "reef-cod " was a sep- 

 arate species, peculiar to the reef, one would also find young '' reef cod " 

 besides the older fish. But this is not the case. The fish found here 

 are all of an equal size (all the specimens caught by me measured about 

 forty inches, and were therefore all full-grown) and old fish. The younger 

 fish have quite a different place of sojourn ; here, as everywhere, they 



