36 ENEMIES OF THE HERRING. 



Many also of the fish tribe may be named as known to 

 be most destructive of the herring. 



The cod (Gadus, L.), for instance, devours vast quanti- 

 ties ; from the stomach of one we are told that fifteen 

 full-sized herrings were taken. (Witness newspaper, 9th 

 February 1850.) We have often found herrings in the 

 stomach of this fish. 



The whiting (Merlangus, L.) is also extremely de- 

 structive of the herring, much spawn, and large numbers 

 of young herrings, having been often taken out of its 

 stomach. 



And it has been ascertained that even the salmon 

 {Scelmo solar), in the Moray Firth, after spawning, has 

 been caught with full-sized herrings in its stomach. 



The most voracious of all the animals that swim is 

 the dogfish (Squalus, L.). It is the terror of the fisher- 

 men. 



Professor Valenciennes of Paris, in his edition of Cuvier's 

 "Natural History of Fishes," p. 93, voL xx., says "that 

 the seamen of Dieppe have ceased to find herrings near 

 Larron, — which, next to Caillebarde, was one of the best 

 places for herrings in the English Channel; — in conse- 

 quence of their having been destroyed by the dogfish ; that 

 the fishermen of Dieppe and Boulogne observe that the 

 dogfish pursue the herrings principally during the day, and 

 contend for their prey up to the very sides of the vessel ; 

 that they generally cut the herring in two before swal- 

 lowing it, and the quantity of oil which arises in con- 

 sequence covers the surface of the w^ater to a considerable 

 distance ; and that it occurs often to the fishermen that 

 they take up all the nets with nothing in them but her- 

 rings cut through the middle." 



Our Scottish fishermen have made similar remarks as to 



