— 98 — 

 13. Molva molva Linné, Common ling (Chart VII) 



§ 1. Remarks on the identification 



As I have shown on an earlier occasion [Molva, 1906, Merluccius, 1907 and Rani- 

 ceps raninus and Molva elongata, 1907), there is no difficulty in distinguishing the post- 

 larval stages of the ling from those of related species. From the two other molvoids (as 

 from Brosmius and Merluccius) it is readily distinguished in the early stages by the ab- 

 sence of the hindmost postanal pigment bar (I), and further by the number of vertebrse 

 (25-37 + 37—39 = 63—65). 



Although the eggs and larvse of the ling are well known (see Mc Intosh and Master- 

 man, 1. c, p. 277, Pi. XI), from lack of time on board ship I have been unable to make 

 the determinations everywhere in our samples, and they are therefore not included on the 

 Chart nor in the tables. 



§ 2. General features of the occurrence 



Chart VII represents the distribution of the fry of all three Molva species (molva, 

 byrkelange and elongata). As M. molva has a late spawning time, later than the two 

 other species, the small fry may occur so late as in September , and the Chart therefore 

 includes all our stations in all the four years as also our positive stations in the Skager 

 Rak in 1907. Only the postlarval stages and not the eggs are included , but the occur- 

 rence of females with running spawn is noted for a few stations with the sign -|-. 



Whilst I have found the later postlarval stages of M. byrkelange and elongata right 

 up to ca. 6 — 8 cm., it is remarkable that I have hitherto not taken older stages of M. 

 molva than ca. 3 cm. and the majority were less than 2 cm. So far as M. molva is con- 

 cerned therefore we have only to deal with the small fry, which is however an advantage 

 when it is a question of determining the spawning places. 



The time of year at which our investigations were made was very favourable to the 

 study of the distribution of the pelagic fry of the ling (on account of the late spawning 

 time), and I have no doubt therefore that our results give in the main a correct picture 

 of the actual conditions. 



With regard to the depths over which the pelagic fry of the ling occur, the Chart 

 and tables show that most of the specimens were taken within or but little beyond 

 the 200-meter line. Beyond the 1000-meter line we have only taken in all the five years 

 (1903—1907) 7 specimens amongst the many hundreds we have found (namely at St. 72, 

 74, 1905), and even these 7 were taken at places where the distance from the shallower 

 water (200 meters) was quite short (5 — 30 miles). Whilst but few specimens were thus 

 found over depths greater than 200 meters, none were on the other hand taken over depths 

 less than ca. 50 meters, so that the ling is not a fish which spawns in quite shallow 

 water. The greatest and smallest depths over which we found the pelagic eggs were re- 

 spectively 400 and 60 meters, but it should be remarked here that the samples have not 

 been so thoroughly searched that I can answer for these two figures being actually the 

 extreme points. 



On the basis of the data (discovery of the spawning females, pelagic eggs and small 



