APPENDIX E: HEIN CEE _ 28 — 



hood of the 40 m. line (40 to 100 p. square meter). In the neighbourhood of the Skaw, 

 as in the true Skager Rak, their number was very small. 

 Eggs and larvae of cod and haddock in May. 



Both the eggs and larvse of these two species were still taken at most of the German 

 Stations in the beginning of May; altogether, there were about ^/s as many larvse as eggs, 

 a sign that the spawning time was essentially already past. 



At Station I, some few eggs only were taken, at Stations II to VI but increasingly 

 towards the north, eggs and larvse of both species. The maximum, at Station VI 

 (northern Fladen Ground) amounted to 72 eggs, as well as 6 larvae of cod and 48 larvse 

 of haddock per square meter. Considerable numbers of haddock (24 per square meter) were 

 also found on the west slope of the Great Fisher Bank (St. IV). On the Skager Rak sta- 

 tions, eggs and larvse of both species were found in very varying quantities. On the Little 

 Fisher Bank, the Jutlfind Bank and at Horns Reef (Station XIII— XV), they also occurred, 

 but in very small numbers. It is very remarkable, that the size of the larvse of the cod 

 and haddock, taken in the May hauls, did not exceed a total length of 10 mm. as a rule. 

 The fully formed cod. 



The smallest fully formed bottom -stages of the cod taken by us, had a length of 

 25 mm. in preserved condition (alcohol); this was in the middle of July. The average size, 

 at which the larval stage of the cod ends, in the region under our survey, cannot as yet 

 be stated with certainty, owing to the lack of the necessary complete data. 



We have searched at very many different places (over 100) for the young bottom- 

 stages and the 0-group of the cod, in our region from the mouths of the Elbe and 

 Weser as far as the Dutch coast, N. W. of the Dogger Bank and to the 100 m. line, over 

 this easterly as far as the Skager Rak, chiefly in June and July in the open sea, but also 

 from August to December on the coasts of the German Bight. The noteworthy result of 

 these observations, is, that the 0-group of the cod is distributed over the whole 

 of our wide region in the summer and autumn months, and occurs, though not 

 at every part of the sea, yet, in each of the somewhat larger regions. ' The smallest 

 bottom-stages under 30 mm. in length, however, have as yet only been found by us in the 

 northern North Sea (northern Mud Bank and Great Fisher Bank). This may only arise, 

 because we have insufficient observations for the southern North Sea for June and July, 

 We found specimens of 30 mm. and onwards at several parts of the southern North Sea. 

 e.g. between Heligoland and the Dogger Bank on the 40 m. line, on the southern Mud 

 Bank as well as far to the north, on the 100 m. line. We have found specimens of 40 mm. 

 and onwards, from the middle of June to the beginning of July, also quite close to 

 the land, e.g. at Lister Deep near Sylt in 10m. depth in great quantities, and in the 

 mouths of the Ems and Elbe, in the latter river, as far as the opening of the North Sea- 

 Baltic canal. 



The greatest quantities of these young cod of the 0-group — from 100 to over 200 

 specimens in o n e haul of our young-fish trawl — were taken in the first half of July, on 

 the Great Fisher Bank and the northern Mud Bank (27 to 66 mm. long); many more also 

 (from 40 to 100 in o n e haul), in the middle of June between Heligoland and the Dogger 

 Bank on the 40 m. line, as also in the Lister Deep at Sylt, and in the Skager Rak at 

 108 m. in the middle of July; somewhat fewer (20 to 40 in one haul), on the southern 

 Mud Bank, N. W. from Heligoland on the 40 m. line, on the sands at the mouth of the 



