658 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



"skinless and boneless anchovies"), but are nevertheless not very thin, 

 which shows that they cannot have spawned previous to the beginning 

 of the autumn fisheries. The larger small herring which are caught 

 during spring and summer are generally thinner and in a poorer con- 

 dition.i" 



Regarding the spawning of the small herring it ought also to be men- 

 tioned that Mr. HoldsicortJi, who is thoroughly versed in all questions relat- 

 ing to the British fisheries, in his well known work "Deep-sea fishery and 

 Fishing-boats" has expressed the supposition that the small herring, Uke 

 the codfish, the mackerel, and (according to Couch) the pilchard^"^ and 

 other salt-water fish emit their roe on the surface of the water during 

 summer generally in the open sea and during winter nearer the coast.^*' 



The young of the small herring are said to appear on the northern- 

 most part of the coast about midsummer or the beginning of July. No 

 information can be found in any writers on the subject as to how fast 

 the small herring grows, and how old it is when it spawns for the first 

 time, '"* and my own observations are not sufficiently advanced to draw 

 any certain conclusion from them. But as on the 18th of March, 1874, I 

 received from Kalfsund several small herrings measuring 96-97 milli- 

 meters (from the point of the lower jaw to the root of the tail) which had 

 strongly developed sexual organs, and as the majority of those which 

 I received from Tjorn during the latter part of spring, measured only 

 100-110 millimeters, it does not seem impossible that the small herring 

 spawns for the first time when two years old, although this will probably 

 only occur with some of the descendants of one and the same spawning- 

 season. It is on the whole more probable that the small herring, like the 

 herring, does not become capable of spawning till it is three years old. 



The largest small herring which I ever obtained on the coast of Bo- 

 husliin measured 149 (counting in the caudal fin, 172.3) millimeters in 

 length ; but even specimens measuring 140 millimeters are rare. 



For comparison's sake I will, in conclusion, give a few facts concerning 

 the spawning and growth of some fish which are closely related to the 

 herring. 



The most important of these, the American herring [Alosa prcestabilis 

 or sapidlssima, the shad), spawns like the salmon, high up the rivers, and 



""LoBERG, "Norges Fiskerier, " p. 97. 



I'^Fishes of the British Islands, iv, p. 81. — Holdsivorth, "Deep-sea fishing and fishiog- 

 boats," pp. 31, 132. 



103K Deep-sea fishing and fishing-boats," p. 135. 



^°*A little more than a year ago Dr. A. JV. Malm gave some information on this 

 point, to the effect that young fish measuring 20-34 millimeters (total length), and 

 obtained between July 5th and August 15th, are said to be young ones of that same year, 

 ■whilst young fish measuring 42-57 millimeters (total length) and obtained towards the 

 end of July or the middle of August, are said to be a little over a year old. (Fauna, pp. 

 583-585.) According to Dr. Malm's opinion, the small herring, which is only half the 

 size, may reach about the same length during its first year as the herring which is 

 twice as large, and whose young measuring 46-49 millimeters are said to be a year old. 

 (Fauna, pp. 580-581.) 



