ö 



~ 52 - 



given up the pelagic mode of life or have been carried away from the places where they 

 were spawned, so that a false impression would be given by including the later stations 

 on the Chart. Iceland and the P'seroes form here an exception, as the stations for the first 

 half of June are also shown on the Chart, which is due to the fact that the spawning 

 time in these northern waters falls somewhat later than further to the south. 



As mentioned above, the haddock are very easy to distinguish by hatching, but as 

 this has not been done everywhere, 1 have not included the eggs on the Chart. 



With regard to the spawning time of the haddock I may refer to what is said in 

 discussing the different regions; I need only mention that the haddock eggs are met with 

 right from the end of January to the end of June. The main spawning time, at 

 least at Iceland and the Fœroes, is somewhat later than that of the cod and considerably 

 later than for the coalfish. This, in connection with the fact that the haddock fry, even 

 when older, have a greater tendency towards a pelagic life than the fry of the species 

 mentioned and that unlike the latter they do not come into quite shallow water in the 

 tidal region, has resulted in our having relatively better conditions for taking them in our 

 hauls with the young-fish trawl, which were made indeed at some distance from the coasts. 

 There is no doubt therefore in my opinion , that our investigations offer a good picture 

 of the distribution of the pelagic fry of the haddock, both in the northern and in the 

 southern parts of the region investigated by us. 



The depths over which the haddock eggs have been taken by the "Thor" are very 

 various. Certain haddock eggs (determined by hatching) have been taken over depths 

 varying from 17 (Dogger Bank) to 360 meters (Iceland and the Fœroes), but it may be 

 said in general that they occur in greatest number over depths from ca. 50 to ca. 200 

 meters, and it is relatively but few of the total number which are taken over depths less 

 than 50 or more than 200 meters. Comparing the haddock with the cod we may say, 

 that the former in the main requires deeper water for the process of reproduction than 

 the latter, but that the eggs of both species may occur together in large quantities, e. g. 

 over depths of ca. 75 to ca. 100 meters. 



Just as the haddock eggs resemble the cod eggs in that the great majority occur 

 within the 200-meter line, the same holds good for the pelagic fry. Consideration 

 of the charts of distribution and the tables shows that relatively more haddock fry than 

 cod fry were taken beyond the 200-meter line. This is connected with the facts, on the 

 one hand , that the haddock often spawns in somewhat deeper water than the cod, 

 on the other, that the haddock fry have a relatively longer pelagic life than the 

 cod fry, and there is thus a greater possibility for their extending out over even 

 great depths. For example, both south of Iceland and west of the British Isles not a few 

 specimens were taken beyond the 1000-meter line (see Chart III) and to the south-west 

 of Ireland I have taken some over even 4000 to 5000 meters (see lists of hauls for June 

 1906). In these cases however the specimens are always somewhat large (3 — 6 cm.), and 

 have been a long time drifting in the water, and in comparison with the large numbers 

 of specimens which pass through their whole pelagic life within or near the 200-meter 

 line, the number of these "drifted off" haddock fry is certainly inappreciable. Although 

 the older haddock fry within our region may thus show a tendency, greater for example 

 than the cod fry, to be carried pelagically out over great depths, yet this does not alter 



