«ÎT, 



KNUT DAHL 



iiisiiis may be i(iiick ur slow and llie coiinccliun willi Uie rapid coast current oï llic 

 Skagerrack and its constantly changing stock of eggs and fry may be more or less 

 intimate according to topograjjliical ami ollii'i' condilions n\' Ihu Ij'oi'ds. Rid evidently 

 it is constantly present. 



Whether these changes have involved all Ihe pelagic fry in the fjord is impossible 

 to determine. But in the face of Ihe great and unmistakable movements observed in 

 the waters containing the eggs and fry, and in the face of the other facts here mentioned 

 in this connection, I should deem it difficull lo explain, howr an essential part of the 

 eggs or pelagic fry could remain unaffected and wholly local. 



The results seem much more to justify the conclusion that the pelagic cod eggs 

 and fry of these small fjords uuist be considered as a moving and changing part of the 

 drifting stock of fry belonging to a far greater area of water. 



This view also explains the fact that during my investigations in the spring of 

 1905 no effect was to be traced of those millions of cod larvae, which were liberated 

 that year in the Sondeled Fjord. 



The following tables give the dates, the total catches on each occasion, and the 

 dates of the liberation of the different portions of larvae : 



Larvae ' liberated 



1 Larvae from the Flodevigen hatchei-y, ready for liberation, measure (preserved in formalin, same as the captured larvae) 

 from 3-5 to 4'5mm. 



It will be observed that the liberation of 33 millions of cod larvae produced no 

 effect which could be recognised in the numbers caught. The totals from the hauls 

 show that eggs were constantly spawned and hatched. But the relation between 

 eggs and larvae is never influenced in the favour of larvae. For instance, 

 notwithstanding that more than 20 millions were liberated between the first and second 

 investigations, and that 10 millions were liberated even two days previous to the second 

 investigation, the number of larvae constantly decreased as did the .number of eggs in 

 the last stage. On the fourth examination the number of eggs in the last stage as 

 well as of larvae, again slightly increased. 



5. The growth of the young Cod. Its arrival in the littoral region 



The growth of the pelagic cod fry is somewhat difficult to determine with 

 accuracy because the pelagic fry obtained in a locality on different occasions may have 

 been hatched at widely ditïerent dates and may originate from widely different localities. 



If however we review the aggregate catches of pelagic cod fry obtained by me in 

 the neighbourhood of Risœr in the two years 1904 and 1905 and arrange the catches 

 according to dates, we obtain the following table. 



