— 113 — .T0H8. SCHMIDT 



On tho basis of the data it may bo said that the torsk spawn s everywhere at the 

 Fseroes in quantities in May (perhaps also earlier and later) in water with a temp- 

 erature of from a little under G° to quite 8° and in depths of at least ca. 450 meters. 



3. British Isles 



Mc Intosh and Masteuman (1. c.) give the spawning time as April and May and des- 

 cribe ripe eggs from the Shetlands from the end of May. Neither the eggs nor the fry 

 of the torsk were found at our stations in the mouth of the Moray Firth early in May 1905 

 (St. 19, 20), but in the neighbourhood of Fair Isle on May 1st 1903 we found some eggs. 



On the N., N.W. and W. of Scotland the pelagic fry were taken at the end of May and 

 in the beginning of June 1905 and 1908 both beyond and within the 1000-meter line, the 

 majority of these being ca. Vh cm. long and none longer than 2— 2^2 cm., which would 

 so far agree well with the main spawning being in April. 



At the end of May 1908, however, still very large quantities of pelagic eggs were 

 found both N. and W. of Scotland as well as on the Rockall Bank. Nowhere else within 

 the region examined by me is the fry of the torsk produced in such enormous numbers 

 as off the Northern parts of the British Atlantic coasts and on the Rockall Bank. Several 

 hundreds of pelagic eggs were thus taken here per haul and the number of postlarval fry 

 amounted to 221, 53, 51 etc. per half hour (see Chart and list of stations, May 1908). 



The quantities of the pelagic fry of the torsk decrease greatly as we go south off the 

 west coast of Scotland, and at Ireland where according to Holt^ (Survey, p. 402) the torsk 

 is "rather rare" we have only taken quite a few specimens, namely at St. 91, 1906, N. of 

 Ireland and 1 at St. 77, 1905, N. W. of Ireland. On the south-west coast of Ireland, 

 where we had many stations at all depths in May and June 1906, not a single specimen 

 was taken in spite of the favourable time of year, and we may conclude therefore that the 

 fry are not produced or if so only to a very small extent in these waters. 



Summarising the data it may be said, that the torsk reproduces in large 

 quantities in the Atlantic off the northern parts of Scotland and the 

 Shetland Isles, but the production greatly decreases further to the south, so that off 

 the western part of Ireland there is but little and still further south off the S. W. and S. 

 coasts there is no production at all. 



4. North Sea 



As will be seen from the Chart the eggs and fry of the torsk were only taken in the 

 northern part of the North Sea. In the whole of the central and southern parts not a 

 single egg or larva was found in spite of investigations in April, May and July (also 

 August — September), nor did we find any in the Skager Rak in spite of numerous stations 

 there in June and beginning of July 1907. 



We may conclude therefore that the torsk only spawns in the northern part 

 of the North Sea, at most to a very small extent in the central and not at all in the 

 southern part, where the depths are for the most part not great enough to judge from 

 the conditions elsewhere. 



1 Holt's statement refers to the W. coast of Ireland. 



15 



