648 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



female fish generally go nearer the bottom than the male tish/^ After 

 the spawning i^rocess is finished the herring hasten back to the open 

 sea, but according to observations made in Scotland, they first gather for 

 a while near the surface in the spawning-place/^ Together with the roe 

 a sticky slime is emitted, which soon becomes hard in the water, and by 

 means of which the roe, when it sinks to the bottom, is fastened to rocks, 

 stones, and aquatic plants ; sometimes the roe even forms large compact 

 cakes. 



As the Skagerack herring spawns during the night, and during the 

 dark and cold season of the year, the Bohusliin coast offers but few 

 opportunities for observing the spawning process. This is probably 

 also the cause of the characteristic ignorance of the spawning process of 

 the herring displayed by the Bohusliin fishermen. The remarks which 

 we pi'opose to make on the i^henomena accompanying the spawning of 

 the herrings are, therefore, principally based on observations made by 

 fishermen in more favorable localities. For comparison's sake, we will, 

 however, reproduce here the excellent description of the spawning pro- 

 cess of the herring given by Gisler, which in some respects must still be 

 considered the best of the kind. Inhis ^^Besl-rifning om Strommings-Fislcets 

 besTcaJfeuhet, Norrhotten^'' (Description of the Herring-Fisheries in Korrbot- 

 ten), he thus describes the spawning process of the herring : *^ " When 

 the herrings approach the coast in large numbers and emit both roe and 

 milt, giving a whitish color to the water, the fishermen say that the her- 

 rings ' are shining.' When this takes i^lace the following may be ob- 

 served : The herrings which have halted, say about one-eighth of a mile 

 from the coast, approach the land in large masses, both male and female, 

 and emit milt and roe. Packed closely together they i)ress forward towards 

 the land, beat their tails against each other, and cause such violent commo- 

 tion that many scales are torn oft' and float near the surface of the water ; 

 a strong and rank odor {odor aphrodisiacus) fills the air, and may be per- 

 ceived at a great distance. During this time the fish do not heed seines 

 or nets but press against them. In a few moments, about sunrise, the 

 roe and milt will give the water a whitish-gray color, extending far out 

 towards the deep ; as soon as the fish have commenced spawning they 

 will go out to sea, seeking those places where several currents meet, 

 ejecting roe and milt all the time, till, when they have reached the deep, 

 they have grown quite light and empty ; they scarcely return to the 

 coast that same summer. The roe when emitted is surrounded with a 

 gluey juice, by which it is fastened to rocks, stones, plants, and fishing 

 apparatus ; lines which have been left in the water near the bottom are 

 often covered with roe to the thickness of an inch, and it is quite difli- 

 cult to scrape it ofi". With regard to its spawning process, the herring 



39 Nordish Tidsskrift for Fiskeri, I, p. 38. 



*^HuGH Miller, according to W. Brabazon : "The deep sea and coast fisheries of 

 Ireland. Dublin, 1848, p. 31. — J. G. Bertram : " The harvest of the sea." London, 

 1873, p. 170. 



^^ Kgl. Svenska Vetenskaps Academiens Handlingar for 1748, IX, p. 113-115. 



