i2o MARVELS OF FISH LIFE 



pilchard, the shad and the anchovy. These fish swim in 

 shoals, and are usually to be found in mid-water or near 

 the surface at no great distance from our coast. Her- 

 rings feed entirely upon crustaceans, which swarm hi 

 the sea, and they strain this food from the water by 

 means of a sieve-like arrangement in the throat. When 

 considering the throat teeth of the carp, I referred to 

 the bony bars on each side to which are attached the 

 gill filaments. In the herring, on the first pair of bars 

 are rows of stiff pointed projections like the teeth of a 

 comb. These projections are known as gill-rakers. It 

 is. by means of these gill-rakers that the food of the 

 herring family is strained from the sea. 



The herring and the sprat often frequent brackish 

 water, and as already stated, herring frequently spawn 

 in water sufficiently fresh to permit of their eggs being 

 attached to the leaves of fresh-water plants. The shad 

 ascends into fresh water to spawn, but the pilchard and 

 anchovy keep entirely to the sea. 



In the herring family we have examples of the three 

 types of eggs found among bony fishes. The eggs of the 

 shad are heavy, but free from each other, and lie on the 

 bottom like the eggs of the salmon. Herring eggs are 

 heavy and adhesive and are attached to stones and 

 gravel, while those of the sprat, pilchard and anchovy 

 float like those of the plaice and cod. 



Herring spawn is deposited during the summer and 

 again in the winter, but the same fish does not spawn 

 twice in one vear for it is now known that summer- 



