Na 
occurrence. They were found immediately over the small skrei banks, whereas in the 
channels between, scarcely any eggs were observed. By towing a silk net of 1 metre 
diameter for some minutes at the surface of the water, I found at the spots marked I 
II, III and VI in Fig. 49, thousands of eggs, whereas in the deep channel between the 
banks, and in the sea outside, few or none were found. 
Similar investigations were made in 1906 from the “Michael Sars” on the Romsdal 
banks. Dr. Damas, who treated the material obtained, has noted the catches made on 
the chart shown in Fig. 51. Here also the occurrence of eggs in any quantity is restricted 
to very small areas; some few miles away, the figures are very low. If we compare the 
occurrence of the eggs with the depth curves, we find that the large quantities were ob- 
Fig. 51. No. of fish eggs, (chiefly cod) taken during the skrei season 
(March—April) 1907, at the surface of the water, by horizontal hauls of 5 min. duration 
with a net of 1 metre diameter (Damas). 
served along the 50 fathom line, so that a great similarity will be noticed between Fig. 50 
and Fig. 51, the one showing the position of the skrei grounds according to the old tradi- 
tion current among the fishermen, the other indicating the actual occurrence of recently 
spawned eggs. 
Some doubt has arisen in certain quarters as to the value of these results. The 
German scientist HENSEN*) even goes so far as to doubt whether definite spawning 
grounds can be said to exist at all, being of opinion that the fish spawn promiscuously 
wherever they happen to be, and that nothing in the nature of spawning migration ever 
takes place, nor any assembly of the fish in certain spots for the purposes of spawning. 
It is easy to understand the formulation of such a theory in the case of investigators 
dealing with waters having more or less level bottom and no very prominent banks; 
*) Das Leben im Ocean nach Zählungen seiner Bewohner. Erg. d. Plankton-Exp. Bd. V. 1911. 
