— 104 — 



quite a few specimens that were taken within the 200-meter line, in all only ca. 12— 13 

 specimens. 



The pelagic fry of the blue ling were found from the beginning of April to early in 

 September, in greatest number in May and beginning of June. This shows that the 

 spawning time of this species must be earlier than that of the common ling, at the least 

 from March and probably even earlier, certainly in the southern parts of its habitat. 

 Again, I have found quite spent females of the blue ling even in the beginning of May 

 (and also later), which agrees therefore with an early spawning. 



§ 3. The geographical distribution 



1. Iceland 



The stations around Iceland which have given the small fry of this species were in- 

 vestigated in May and June, whilst the older stages were found in July. It was only on 

 the south and west not on the east and north coasts of the island that we found the 

 pelagic fry. 



On the west of Iceland we only once took a single specimen, scarcely 2 cm. long 

 (St. 154, June 20th 1904), but to the south of Iceland the small pelagic fry (under 1 — 

 Vhi cm.) were found at many places beyond the 1000-meter line in May — June and also 

 older specimens (over 5 cm.) within the 200-meter line on the western part of South Ice- 

 land in July. The largest number of specimens per half hour's haul was 18 and 16, thus 

 very considerable quantities, especially if one remembers how extensive the region is over 

 which the fry are distributed (see Chart VII), much greater than that of the gadoids 

 spawning in shallow water (e. g. cod). The small fry were constantly accompanied by 

 numerous pelagic fry of Sebastes marinus which were found both to the south and west 

 of Iceland in enormous quantities over deep water, and also by the small fry of Gadus 

 Poutassou and of Scopelini, in addition to numerous oceanic plankton forms, as for example, 

 Clione horealis, Cleodora pyramidata, Diphyes, Physophora etc. 



From the data the conclusion may be drawn , that this species spawns in spring in 

 the Atlantic W. and especially S. but not E. or N. of Iceland in great depths, beyond or 

 near to the 1000-meter line and scarcely within the 600-meter line. This conclusion which 

 is drawn from the distribution of the small fry also agrees well with our finding the adult 

 blue ling only S. and W. of Iceland not E. or N., and there can be no doubt that it is the 

 low temperatures in deep water N. and E. of the island (i. e. N. of the submarine ridge 

 between Greenland — Iceland and the Faeroes) which is the cause of this species not spawn- 

 ing there. 



2. The Faeroes 



In describing the distribution of the fry of the blue ling no separation can be made 

 between the waters S. of Iceland and W. of the Faeroes, and this applies to all the species 

 spawning over or in deep water, e. g. Sebastes marinus, Scopelini and the gadoids G. Pou- 

 tassou and argenteus. It is only for the species spawning in shallow water that there can 

 be any separation. 



From the Chart and tables it will be seen that the small fry of this species were 

 only taken W. and S.W. of the Faeroes beyond the 1000-meter line, but at many (most) 

 stations there and in considerable numbers e. g. 16, 15, 29 specimens per half hour's haul; 



