Go 8 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



the adult shape. Of the ventral fins there were only very indistinct 

 indications. After ten days more had elapsed — therefore 7 to 8 weeks 

 after the fish had left the egg — many of the larva entered the transition 

 period. They now measured 25 to 28°^°^ in length. This is the same 

 length as that of the smallest larvae, of the same age, living in the open 

 water of the Schlei, whilst with the autumn herring the transition period 

 does not set in until the fish have reached a much larger size. The fish 

 which had been artificially raised in the Bay of Kiel had, therefore, pre- 

 served the character of the Schlei spring fisli. 



The young herrings of the same size which can now be caught in 

 large numbers in the Bay of Kiel differ somewhat from the above- 

 mentioned herrings in the position of their fins, and to some extent re- 

 semble the autumn herring. They are, therefore, certainly not hatched 

 from Schlei eggs, but are probably natives of the Bay of Kiel. In my 

 former reports I had to leave it undecided whether the Bay of Kiel con- 

 tained spawning-places; but now I can answer this question in the 

 affirmative. 



On the 5th of May, 1878, and dimng the following days, there was ex- 

 cellent herring-fishing at the mouth of the river Schwentine. 



On the 5th and Gth of May only fully-matured fish containing spawn 

 were caught; on the 7th of May some were caught which had spawned, 

 and from day to day the number of spent fish increased, until no other 

 were caught. 



Also at the mouth of the canal, near Holtenau, the same large and 

 full fish were caught. 



This confirms a supposition, which I have expressed in another place, 

 that the spring or coast fish have numerous spawning-places in the 

 Western Baltic, although none of these spawning-places are of great 

 importance. 



Kiel, September, 1878. 



