APPENDIX E: HBINCKE _ 26 — 



young forms, often in the stage when the fin-rays are forming; eggs were still found in 

 the beginning of May. Some eggs and larvae still occurred in May at the Skager Eak 

 Stations VI— XII, though fewer than on the Great Fisher Bank. 



The largest planktonic larvae of Drepanopsetta we have caught in the North Sea, 

 measured about 26 mm. in the fresh condition, the smallest fully formed bottom-stage i. e. 

 with completed metamorphosis, was about 24 mm. It may be expressly mentioned here 

 that, just as in the dab so also in Drepanopsetta, the change from the planktonic to the 

 bottom-life often occurs before the completion of the metamorphosis, as we have 

 not rarely found the latest transition -stages already on the bottom. 



The 0- group of Drepanopsetta, from about 24mm. in length onwards, we have 

 as yet never found in the southern parts of the North Sea, but only to the north 

 of the southern part of the Dogger Bank, as far as the slope of the North Sea plateau 

 towards the ocean and the Norwegian channel, in depths of 22 to 148 m. (Skager Rak), 

 mostly on muddy sand or purely muddy ground, with a bottom-temperature of 6° to 9° C. 

 and salinity of 35-1 to 33-2 "/oo. We took it in greatest quantities (from 35 to 220 in 

 one 20 minutes haul of the Heligoland trawl) on the Great Fisher Bank (66 m.), and north 

 from the Fladen Ground (134 and 87 m.), less on the slope towards the Skager Rak, still 

 less south of 56°N. L.; only on the western edge of the Dogger, were 12 per haul still 

 caught. All these hauls were made in July; the largest specimens of the 0-group then 

 taken, measured 45 mm. in the preserved condition. 



Older Drepanopsetta of the I- and Il-groups etc. have only been taken, in 

 our hauls with the large and the young-fish trawl, in essentially the same region in which 

 we took the eggs, larvae and young bottom- stages. We have taken Drepanopsetta only in 

 quite isolated examples south from the Dogger Bank, on the Oyster Bank and Heli- 

 goland Ground, and then always somewhat larger, over 20 cm. in length. Most of them 

 were taken on the 100 m. line and beyond, north of the Fladen Ground and on the southern 

 slope of the Skager Rak, further on the Great Fisher Bank, just where the majority of the 

 bottom-stages of the 0-group were found; lastly, in the deep region north of the Dogger 

 Bank, somewhat less on the northern and southern Mud Bank. Younger stages from 8 cm. 

 on, were found together with the older of 30 cm. and more in length. It is remarkable 

 that we never caught very large quantities in the hauls with the large trawl, at 

 the most, 350 specimens in one haul. 



Concerning the age, rate of growth, commencement of maturity, spawning etc. we have 

 as yet made no observations. 



The long-rough dab seems, therefore, a flatfish which is limited in its occurrence almost 

 entirely to the northern North Sea. It gives the impression ot being a stationary fish, 

 whose biological character is similar to that of the dab ^Pl. limandaj. 



5—6. The cod (Gadus morrhuaj and haddock fGadus aeglefinusj 

 The eggs and larvae of these two species must preliminarily be dealt with together, 

 as they cannot always be separated with certainty according to the species. Their eggs 

 can only be distinguished, when the embryos are so far developed, that they show the pig- 

 mentation characteristic for each species. We have therefore not been able to determine, 

 how many eggs of cod, and how many eggs of haddock were contained in each of our 

 hauls, but had to be contented with determining, whether the well-developed embryos 



